... the IT man in LibraryLand
After a delayed flight from Melbourne and a sprint to catch my international connection at Sydney airport I did finally make it safe and sound. Of course all did not go so smoothly on the flights. The delays were caused by thunder storms which were also the cause of turbulence all across the Australian part of the trip and caused the disaster of one of the free meals being skipped! I also had to wander Frankfurt Airport for a while in order to find my final connecting flight (which actually had jet engines this time). The good news was that I was bumped up into business class for that flight and received breakfast instead of just a cookie.
Flying into Svetlanaland international Airport I noticed that there was this strange white stuff on the ground. After fruitlessly waiting for my bag which had apparently been unable to make the sprint for the flight at Sydney I headed out through customs to the patiently waiting Svetlana.
After reacquainting myself with Svetlana for several minutes she informed me that, yes, there was snow, and, yes, she was wrong and there would actually be snow before late January this year.
We headed straight from the airport to the traditional welcome lunch with the parents, where I think I passed the grandma test as I wasn't given the evil eye.
Several free lunches, dinners, and breakfasts later it was suddenly Christmas eve and it snowed. Not just any old snow, mind you, but real movie/TV snow. Fat flakes floating gently down and covering everything in a blanket of white.
I had the fun of cleaning the car - removing great powdery heaps of snow from the roof - before Svetlana and I headed off to a friends for the traditional Christmas Eve drinking of home made wine from Korchula until midnight.
After a morning sleep in Christmas lunch was a relaxed affair at the parents place out of town. Grandma had definitely accepted me and was repeatedly trying to make me put on another layer to make sure I stayed warm enough. I was stuffed full of food and brandy and then went sledding with Svetlana's two young nieces. The countryside was a magnificent pure snowscape and the experience was breathtaking - especially after all that food.
Since then I've mostly been indoors with the occasional foray out for coffee or drinks. The snow has begun to turn to mush and our plans are now being solidified for exploration across Europe.
Oh, Svetlana has just returned from drinks with friends and I have to go now, I'll write further when they let me out again, bye.
... The Last They Ever Saw of Freeloading Phill
I'm flying out on my trip to Svetlanaland today.
This makes for the perfect opportunity to make use in my heading of the literary device that is used quite often to foreshadow a final parting.
In my reading experience it is used most often by Mr King when one party his heading off into certain doom and I am quite fond of the little device (picture me patting it on the head with fondness) - though I am no longer shocked by the usual twist of it being the party left behind that suffers the terrible fate. Still, you all better still be here when I return...
Special Bonus Posting - The Advance Copy
Arriving just before I return to the East is the advance copy of the first chapters of my new book. I think you'll all agree that it looks just spiffing.
I'm hoping that the rest of the chapters can be done in the new year although it may need to be revised with my current trip taken into account.
Anyhow, have a read of the sample chapters and decide for yourself.
This makes for the perfect opportunity to make use in my heading of the literary device that is used quite often to foreshadow a final parting.
In my reading experience it is used most often by Mr King when one party his heading off into certain doom and I am quite fond of the little device (picture me patting it on the head with fondness) - though I am no longer shocked by the usual twist of it being the party left behind that suffers the terrible fate. Still, you all better still be here when I return...
Special Bonus Posting - The Advance Copy
Arriving just before I return to the East is the advance copy of the first chapters of my new book. I think you'll all agree that it looks just spiffing.
I'm hoping that the rest of the chapters can be done in the new year although it may need to be revised with my current trip taken into account.
Anyhow, have a read of the sample chapters and decide for yourself.
... The Pressure to Blog
Well my loyal readers I have to say that I am now feeling some pressure to continue the tales with the high standard they have been maintained at for so long.
This whole process is a voracious content monster. No sooner have I relaxed after making a post than suddenly it's a few days later and the monster wants feeding again.
And now I fear that Supervisor Grand Chief K may have enabled a whole lot of people into expecting amazing mind-blowing revelations about about anything they may have experienced by my side.
Take last Friday's Work Social Club Xmas party for instance. It contained the usual amount of over-consumption (not from yours truly though I sensibly stuck to my four glass limit... or maybe five); bad dancing, loud boisterous conversation; outrageous costuming by Beeby; enforced "on-call means on-beck-&-call" chauffeuring of SGCK and friends from one tacky venue to another (who builds a replica train carriage inside their bar anyway? (ooh and I do mean tacky - at one stage Sergeant PoodlenaThePoodle needed help peeling his shoes off of the floor at Transport bar so that we could leave at closing time)) until I could escape home for some much needed rest; but really nothing spectacular or blog-worthy happened so what am I to write about??
I suppose I could put in something about Legion4 moving in to begin his house-and-Tiger-sitting stint on Saturday, or about Sundays Last gaming for 100 miles session, or possibly even about the wonderful timing my new blinds have by being ready for pickup tomorrow but there's really nary a chuckle or a cautionary tale in those events, is there?
This whole process is a voracious content monster. No sooner have I relaxed after making a post than suddenly it's a few days later and the monster wants feeding again.
And now I fear that Supervisor Grand Chief K may have enabled a whole lot of people into expecting amazing mind-blowing revelations about about anything they may have experienced by my side.
Take last Friday's Work Social Club Xmas party for instance. It contained the usual amount of over-consumption (not from yours truly though I sensibly stuck to my four glass limit... or maybe five); bad dancing, loud boisterous conversation; outrageous costuming by Beeby; enforced "on-call means on-beck-&-call" chauffeuring of SGCK and friends from one tacky venue to another (who builds a replica train carriage inside their bar anyway? (ooh and I do mean tacky - at one stage Sergeant PoodlenaThePoodle needed help peeling his shoes off of the floor at Transport bar so that we could leave at closing time)) until I could escape home for some much needed rest; but really nothing spectacular or blog-worthy happened so what am I to write about??
I suppose I could put in something about Legion4 moving in to begin his house-and-Tiger-sitting stint on Saturday, or about Sundays Last gaming for 100 miles session, or possibly even about the wonderful timing my new blinds have by being ready for pickup tomorrow but there's really nary a chuckle or a cautionary tale in those events, is there?
... The Devoured Earth by Sean Williams
I finished the final book of the books of the Cataclysm today during my late lunch.
It was a fitting finale to the series and definitely puts it as the series of the year (although with only Fantasy-Family-Saga to compete with its not a huge field).
It may have been a little easy for the characters to defeat the realm consuming being in the end but otherwise it was quite a satisfactory ending to the series.
It was a fitting finale to the series and definitely puts it as the series of the year (although with only Fantasy-Family-Saga to compete with its not a huge field).
It may have been a little easy for the characters to defeat the realm consuming being in the end but otherwise it was quite a satisfactory ending to the series.
... The Unstoppable Goal Machine
Last nights soccer saw me once again score the final goal of the evening - and the year!
That's two weeks in a row now and I'm considering becoming a full time forward.
My tally is 7 goals in 15 months.
I was late to last nights final gaming session before my big trip to Svetlanaland. Mostly because soccer is like a relationship - when you score you have to hang around and talk afterwards.
I also had a phone call from Svetlana herself which may have contributed to my lateness. When her money ran out I attempted to call her back with my calling card but the line quality was atrocious. Coincidentally I had just that day received a letter from Telstra that was pimping their new international rates as "better than calling cards" and having "Telstra's superior line quality". I was instantly reminded of my ADSL experience.
The gaming, once I did arrive, did bog down in a big fight scene until we worked out how to streamline the process (it involved not interrupting each other and only having a small amount of time to think about what your character will do). Of course by the time we were streamlining we were all also starting to fade out from exhaustion. Hopefully the rest of the group will have it perfected by the time I return from Svetlanaland.
That's two weeks in a row now and I'm considering becoming a full time forward.
My tally is 7 goals in 15 months.
I was late to last nights final gaming session before my big trip to Svetlanaland. Mostly because soccer is like a relationship - when you score you have to hang around and talk afterwards.
I also had a phone call from Svetlana herself which may have contributed to my lateness. When her money ran out I attempted to call her back with my calling card but the line quality was atrocious. Coincidentally I had just that day received a letter from Telstra that was pimping their new international rates as "better than calling cards" and having "Telstra's superior line quality". I was instantly reminded of my ADSL experience.
The gaming, once I did arrive, did bog down in a big fight scene until we worked out how to streamline the process (it involved not interrupting each other and only having a small amount of time to think about what your character will do). Of course by the time we were streamlining we were all also starting to fade out from exhaustion. Hopefully the rest of the group will have it perfected by the time I return from Svetlanaland.
... A Burst of Geekiness
Monday night I attended my third Geektogether. This time I convinced Pirate Dave to go along as proof that I'm not making up all the stuff I say about gaming with other people.
Summary of the evening: Dave did an excellent job of making me look good by overindulging in Guiness and getting loud with the other geeks; I consumed many Guini myself - two of them after I'd stopped; lots of good gaming talk; surprisingly a bit of political and religious talk; about seven new gamers that I've not met before.
Tuesday was a gaming night, and one that BestFriendSincePrep deigned to actually show up for and, along with Legion2, Gavman and ArchEnemy, played a one-shot game of Special Forces - Action Movie role-playing. Zombies, demons, clichés and fun were the result.
Workwise I've spent most of my time hanging out with CC and Imposter Phil (who thematically came out to me as an "ex" gaming geek yesterday) getting ready for new PCs for Beaumaris branch.
Summary of the evening: Dave did an excellent job of making me look good by overindulging in Guiness and getting loud with the other geeks; I consumed many Guini myself - two of them after I'd stopped; lots of good gaming talk; surprisingly a bit of political and religious talk; about seven new gamers that I've not met before.
Tuesday was a gaming night, and one that BestFriendSincePrep deigned to actually show up for and, along with Legion2, Gavman and ArchEnemy, played a one-shot game of Special Forces - Action Movie role-playing. Zombies, demons, clichés and fun were the result.
Workwise I've spent most of my time hanging out with CC and Imposter Phil (who thematically came out to me as an "ex" gaming geek yesterday) getting ready for new PCs for Beaumaris branch.
... The Week that Was Suddenly Over
Monday - The Apprentice
My first day of being saddled with a work experience student who inexplicably was interested in Library IT. I took to heart the task of cautioning him about the detrimental effect if being immersed in LibraryLand. He was also initiated into the wonders of "Hey Phill!" problem solving for most of the day.
Tuesday - Corporate Drive By
The Apprentice started the day by asking me if I was going to start working soon, so I decided to punish him by taking him into the Council Corporate Centre IT department.
It didn't phase him.
So I took him to several of our branches in an attempt to overwhelm him with librarians and locations. He was made of sterner stuff than that and shrugged most of it off with a hmmph. So far he looked like prime IT material.
Wednesday - Road Trips, Meetings and Paperwork
The Apprentice and I traveled up and down the Seaside Road today to fix problems that were already fixed by the time we arrived at the branch. So far he was getting an excellent introduction to the life of an IT Man in LibraryLand. The next test was the IT Team meeting. The afternoon's meeting was attended by all team members and The Apprentice fitted (fat?) right in by nodding off in tandem with The Pragmatist.
After The Apprentice had gone home I stayed back at work diligently catching up on the paperwork that I was just not cruel enough to force an innocent minion to complete.
Whilst I was catching up on said paperwork, The Flibberty Gibbet, enabled by Supervisor Grand Chief K of course, made another stalking phone call. This time I was able to legitimately say I was working on RFID - it was a strange feeling, kind of itchy.
Thursday - Chocolates, Soccer and Snoozes
I was able to offload The Apprentice onto Sister Serials as a box unpacker while I attended the Service Coordinators meeting. We then spent the afternoon working out how to embiggen the print size of our slip printers and installing it on Bomber Babe's PC as a test.
The surprise of the afternoon was the box of chocolates The Apprentice gave me as a thank you for dragging him all over my little corner of LibraryLand. I shared them of course - it would have looked greedy if I'd eaten more than 80% of the box.
I rushed off to soccer delighted at being able to play in 32 degree heat for the second week running. The upside was that I scored the "last goal wins" goal by dribbling a kick over the line while we all watched on exhausted. The goal arrived right on target keeping me at a my goal every three months average. The post game recovery took a full hour but finally I was able to drag myself off home and then to ArchEnemy's for falling asleep on the couch during gaming.
Friday - SPUN and Branch Drinks
The morning was our free xmas lunch at Civica HQ preceded by the quarterly SPUN Meeting. I brought Mr Prada along as a minion to show my new stature as Mr Secretary but completely forgot to have him Fight Flibberty's minion in the pit, oh well there's always next time. I had a quick catch up over a glass of free wine with Madame President to cover where the exec was at and then headed out into the city.
After a quick drop by visit to Rugrat Twin's retail workplace I trained my way back to Sandringham.
After booting up my laptop I shut it down and we all headed off to the branch xmas drinks and dinner. It was a good evening with a cameo by Chanlib, and the evening seen out in increasingly slurred conversation with Mr Prada and Scully.
Saturday - A BBQ and Librarians Running Amok
A last minute BBQ with Fridgepower, Judgemingus, their spawn and several others left me rushing a little to make it to Miss Amanda's delightful residence for the Library Xmas Party soirée.
It was a very well attended event, with magnificent food and much joviality. I was able to meet the infamous infamous Mr Amanda, and noted the family resemblance when Little Miss Amanda called me the best customer for food trays.
The evening took a turn for the surreal later on when the Sing Star computer game was fired up. I tell you nothing compares to a 15 librarian chorus of Unchained melody - it almost killed Torchwood with hysterics (watching said fit may have been the best ten minutes of the evening).
Sunday - Legion Gathers
And finally I get to today. The clan was having a get together to celebrate several birthdays and my impending departure for Svetlanaland. No wait they weren't celebrating my leaving they were saying farewell. Handy Dad, Freeloading Mum, Legion2-4 and various partners were all there and we had a nice lunch before heading home for some much needed rest.
Hey I just found out that you can only have 200 characters of Labels on a blog post. Though the error message is confusing as it just says that you have more than 200 characters but not that it's only the labels that it cares about. I was thinking that I needed an Everything label for this post and now I had to trim out some of the less important tags.
My first day of being saddled with a work experience student who inexplicably was interested in Library IT. I took to heart the task of cautioning him about the detrimental effect if being immersed in LibraryLand. He was also initiated into the wonders of "Hey Phill!" problem solving for most of the day.
Tuesday - Corporate Drive By
The Apprentice started the day by asking me if I was going to start working soon, so I decided to punish him by taking him into the Council Corporate Centre IT department.
It didn't phase him.
So I took him to several of our branches in an attempt to overwhelm him with librarians and locations. He was made of sterner stuff than that and shrugged most of it off with a hmmph. So far he looked like prime IT material.
Wednesday - Road Trips, Meetings and Paperwork
The Apprentice and I traveled up and down the Seaside Road today to fix problems that were already fixed by the time we arrived at the branch. So far he was getting an excellent introduction to the life of an IT Man in LibraryLand. The next test was the IT Team meeting. The afternoon's meeting was attended by all team members and The Apprentice fitted (fat?) right in by nodding off in tandem with The Pragmatist.
After The Apprentice had gone home I stayed back at work diligently catching up on the paperwork that I was just not cruel enough to force an innocent minion to complete.
Whilst I was catching up on said paperwork, The Flibberty Gibbet, enabled by Supervisor Grand Chief K of course, made another stalking phone call. This time I was able to legitimately say I was working on RFID - it was a strange feeling, kind of itchy.
Thursday - Chocolates, Soccer and Snoozes
I was able to offload The Apprentice onto Sister Serials as a box unpacker while I attended the Service Coordinators meeting. We then spent the afternoon working out how to embiggen the print size of our slip printers and installing it on Bomber Babe's PC as a test.
The surprise of the afternoon was the box of chocolates The Apprentice gave me as a thank you for dragging him all over my little corner of LibraryLand. I shared them of course - it would have looked greedy if I'd eaten more than 80% of the box.
I rushed off to soccer delighted at being able to play in 32 degree heat for the second week running. The upside was that I scored the "last goal wins" goal by dribbling a kick over the line while we all watched on exhausted. The goal arrived right on target keeping me at a my goal every three months average. The post game recovery took a full hour but finally I was able to drag myself off home and then to ArchEnemy's for falling asleep on the couch during gaming.
Friday - SPUN and Branch Drinks
The morning was our free xmas lunch at Civica HQ preceded by the quarterly SPUN Meeting. I brought Mr Prada along as a minion to show my new stature as Mr Secretary but completely forgot to have him Fight Flibberty's minion in the pit, oh well there's always next time. I had a quick catch up over a glass of free wine with Madame President to cover where the exec was at and then headed out into the city.
After a quick drop by visit to Rugrat Twin's retail workplace I trained my way back to Sandringham.
After booting up my laptop I shut it down and we all headed off to the branch xmas drinks and dinner. It was a good evening with a cameo by Chanlib, and the evening seen out in increasingly slurred conversation with Mr Prada and Scully.
Saturday - A BBQ and Librarians Running Amok
A last minute BBQ with Fridgepower, Judgemingus, their spawn and several others left me rushing a little to make it to Miss Amanda's delightful residence for the Library Xmas Party soirée.
It was a very well attended event, with magnificent food and much joviality. I was able to meet the infamous infamous Mr Amanda, and noted the family resemblance when Little Miss Amanda called me the best customer for food trays.
The evening took a turn for the surreal later on when the Sing Star computer game was fired up. I tell you nothing compares to a 15 librarian chorus of Unchained melody - it almost killed Torchwood with hysterics (watching said fit may have been the best ten minutes of the evening).
Sunday - Legion Gathers
And finally I get to today. The clan was having a get together to celebrate several birthdays and my impending departure for Svetlanaland. No wait they weren't celebrating my leaving they were saying farewell. Handy Dad, Freeloading Mum, Legion2-4 and various partners were all there and we had a nice lunch before heading home for some much needed rest.
Hey I just found out that you can only have 200 characters of Labels on a blog post. Though the error message is confusing as it just says that you have more than 200 characters but not that it's only the labels that it cares about. I was thinking that I needed an Everything label for this post and now I had to trim out some of the less important tags.
... The Evils of BestFriendSincePrep
Yesterday was the wedding of MrRogers. As is his way BestFriendSincePrep had planned everything out for us to have a huge session as part of the celebrations.
It began with my not being on the complementary bus but instead ordered to drive out to StumpyRudolph's place where it was all going to happen, so that we could both stay the night and still have transport back home in the morning.
Once ceremonial proceedings were underway BFSP began to force feed me beers and didn't let up until we last four survivors trundled off to bed at three in the morning. Oh to have Svetlana there to protect me by drinking my beer as she did at Gavman's wedding.
It was almost twelve hours later that my body began to win the battle against alcohol poisoning and as I type this right now, a further six hours on, I'd say that I'm back to about half human.
Ooh I can make this into a caution.
Never, ever, ever, think that it's even remotely possible to keep up with BestFriendSincePrep. It's just not humanly possible and you'll end up spending most of the next day incommunicado and, most importantly, be a tad too seedy to partake in free bacon and eggs for breakfast.
It began with my not being on the complementary bus but instead ordered to drive out to StumpyRudolph's place where it was all going to happen, so that we could both stay the night and still have transport back home in the morning.
Once ceremonial proceedings were underway BFSP began to force feed me beers and didn't let up until we last four survivors trundled off to bed at three in the morning. Oh to have Svetlana there to protect me by drinking my beer as she did at Gavman's wedding.
It was almost twelve hours later that my body began to win the battle against alcohol poisoning and as I type this right now, a further six hours on, I'd say that I'm back to about half human.
Ooh I can make this into a caution.
Never, ever, ever, think that it's even remotely possible to keep up with BestFriendSincePrep. It's just not humanly possible and you'll end up spending most of the next day incommunicado and, most importantly, be a tad too seedy to partake in free bacon and eggs for breakfast.
The Biggest Month Ever!
This post marks my posting-est month ever.
I'm up to 15.
That's a ridiculous post every second day.
(punctuate the previous sentence to taste)
Sigh, I have to get a life.
Speaking of which, I was home today to guard The Tiger as the door had to remain open while paint was being applied to it and thereafter to allow said paint to dry. All part of the great building repainting. It looks good although possibly the grey edging colour may make the internal stairwells a touch too dark - in an Adrian Mole-esque "black walls" kind of way.
I had every intention of making it a work from home day but the heat and fumes and maybe a touch of uncharacteristic laziness turned it into a credit day.
Of course Supervisor Grand Chief K and Sister Serials just couldn't help but call me to disturb my peace so I think it still counts as a full days work.
I'm up to 15.
That's a ridiculous post every second day.
(punctuate the previous sentence to taste)
Sigh, I have to get a life.
Speaking of which, I was home today to guard The Tiger as the door had to remain open while paint was being applied to it and thereafter to allow said paint to dry. All part of the great building repainting. It looks good although possibly the grey edging colour may make the internal stairwells a touch too dark - in an Adrian Mole-esque "black walls" kind of way.
I had every intention of making it a work from home day but the heat and fumes and maybe a touch of uncharacteristic laziness turned it into a credit day.
Of course Supervisor Grand Chief K and Sister Serials just couldn't help but call me to disturb my peace so I think it still counts as a full days work.
... Two Years in Hell
Well not really, it just makes for a catchy headline.
Today is two years to the day that started working as the IT Man in LibraryLand - in my previous employment I was the IT man adjacent to LibraryLand, or more precisely in LibraryLand's basement.
It's been an interesting two years and, as MatrixMan says, being thrown into such an almost all women environment has an amazing socialising effect (as long as you survive!!). I've gone from IT Officer to IT Support Coordinator comma Libraries, seen several computer rollouts come and go, overseen the LMS upgrade (said LMS system has been going great the last two days so fingers-crossed we are out of the slowness woods) and I even saw the bottom of my email inbox the other day. All that I my work here still isn't done!
I didn't make an anniversary cake this year, mostly because I didn't realise the occasion until the afternoon, and besides I was at Days of our Libraries's branch for customer training and there is just no point trying to compete with her cakery skills.
Today is two years to the day that started working as the IT Man in LibraryLand - in my previous employment I was the IT man adjacent to LibraryLand, or more precisely in LibraryLand's basement.
It's been an interesting two years and, as MatrixMan says, being thrown into such an almost all women environment has an amazing socialising effect (as long as you survive!!). I've gone from IT Officer to IT Support Coordinator comma Libraries, seen several computer rollouts come and go, overseen the LMS upgrade (said LMS system has been going great the last two days so fingers-crossed we are out of the slowness woods) and I even saw the bottom of my email inbox the other day. All that I my work here still isn't done!
I didn't make an anniversary cake this year, mostly because I didn't realise the occasion until the afternoon, and besides I was at Days of our Libraries's branch for customer training and there is just no point trying to compete with her cakery skills.
... The Sudden Appearance of More 2.0
(246 Alternate Title: Thing #12 Rollyo)
I've had a quick look at Rollyo but, like many others I didn't want to create another logon - there is only so much Freeloading Phill to go around after all. Apparently Rollyo created me as 321321321 which is a rather catchy name if I do say so myself.
I did create a free search of The Tales, which I categorised as Society & Culture, of course.
Below is the search box code they told me would work.
(Of course using it to search The Tales is a waste of time since every post is so beautifully tagged that the tag list off to the left there - no lower down - is a much easier way of finding what you're after.)
Do I see a use for this sort of search? Yes, a little. But I think the catch is that you also need to be searching to see what relevant sites have shown up and need to be added to your roll so why not just search with a search engine?
I've had a quick look at Rollyo but, like many others I didn't want to create another logon - there is only so much Freeloading Phill to go around after all. Apparently Rollyo created me as 321321321 which is a rather catchy name if I do say so myself.
I did create a free search of The Tales, which I categorised as Society & Culture, of course.
Below is the search box code they told me would work.
(Of course using it to search The Tales is a waste of time since every post is so beautifully tagged that the tag list off to the left there - no lower down - is a much easier way of finding what you're after.)
Do I see a use for this sort of search? Yes, a little. But I think the catch is that you also need to be searching to see what relevant sites have shown up and need to be added to your roll so why not just search with a search engine?
... The Sweet Sadness of Endings
After yesterdays draining experience I had a rest day today.
One of the things I did today was to finish my re-watching the fifth and final season of Babylon 5. It is eight years since the first (and only) time I watched the final episodes and, yes, some tears were shed.
It evoked in me that feeling of finishing a good book - the wishing for more and the sadness that it is over.
All my memories of watching the five year "novel for television" that Babylon 5 is, over five turbulent years of my life were brought up again. It was one of my constants as I went through: band disintegrations; bad romantic choices; good relationships crashing; some mid to late twenties aimlessness; and - like in the show itself - change scattering friends to the corners of the universe.
One of my best memories is of a party at my place with the lounge room full to overflowing with my friends all watching that weeks episode - a stark contrast to the usual solitary way that I watched the rest of the series.
For much less emotional impact I also happened to watch the final episode of Stargate SG1 today. In contrast to Bab5's winding down final three episodes I didn't even know it was the final Stargate until the last scene and even then I had to look it up on the internet to make sure.
I rate SG1 as a trek-level show - watch once with a general level of quality but hardly ever spectacular or emotion provoking. This means that it was never likely to effect me when it ended.
Phew, that was all a bit serious. Well after a hard day at work tomorrow I should be back to my usual blogging self.
One of the things I did today was to finish my re-watching the fifth and final season of Babylon 5. It is eight years since the first (and only) time I watched the final episodes and, yes, some tears were shed.
It evoked in me that feeling of finishing a good book - the wishing for more and the sadness that it is over.
All my memories of watching the five year "novel for television" that Babylon 5 is, over five turbulent years of my life were brought up again. It was one of my constants as I went through: band disintegrations; bad romantic choices; good relationships crashing; some mid to late twenties aimlessness; and - like in the show itself - change scattering friends to the corners of the universe.
One of my best memories is of a party at my place with the lounge room full to overflowing with my friends all watching that weeks episode - a stark contrast to the usual solitary way that I watched the rest of the series.
For much less emotional impact I also happened to watch the final episode of Stargate SG1 today. In contrast to Bab5's winding down final three episodes I didn't even know it was the final Stargate until the last scene and even then I had to look it up on the internet to make sure.
I rate SG1 as a trek-level show - watch once with a general level of quality but hardly ever spectacular or emotion provoking. This means that it was never likely to effect me when it ended.
Phew, that was all a bit serious. Well after a hard day at work tomorrow I should be back to my usual blogging self.
... The Long, Long Day of Decision
AKA the Election that stole Soccer
Yesterday I worked as a polling official on the federal election. I'd signed up to it on the belief that the corporate games soccer would only be on this Sunday but alas they had double the entries and then scheduled all our pool games for Saturday - bastards.
Ahem, anyway I had to miss out on the games to work on the election.
And what a long day it turned out to be.
I've been doing this at elections for nearly 20 years and it was definitely the worst run booth I've worked on - not terrible but a smidgen below acceptable.
Not only did our working day go from 7.30 until 10.15 instead of the usual 9 - 9.30 finish but in all that time I was only given two breaks from the hot classroom we were working in. Granted it was a new team in charge who maybe needed to learn the ropes but how hard is it to keep rotating the staff around?
While I was getting the absent voting area sorted out the rest of the group were taking what seemed like an inordinate amount of time to sort and count the house of reps papers. In the end the Officer in Charge finally decided to let most of the staff go instead of continuing to make us watch as she tried once again to balance her figures. I have to admit that there was a little bit of schadenfreude (or zluradost) at seeing the formerly chirpy and bubbly OIC being brought almost to tears by not adding up properly but in the end I just wanted it over and done with and to get home.
Oh and SoccerBuddy and the others failed to qualify for todays finals.
Yesterday I worked as a polling official on the federal election. I'd signed up to it on the belief that the corporate games soccer would only be on this Sunday but alas they had double the entries and then scheduled all our pool games for Saturday - bastards.
Ahem, anyway I had to miss out on the games to work on the election.
And what a long day it turned out to be.
I've been doing this at elections for nearly 20 years and it was definitely the worst run booth I've worked on - not terrible but a smidgen below acceptable.
Not only did our working day go from 7.30 until 10.15 instead of the usual 9 - 9.30 finish but in all that time I was only given two breaks from the hot classroom we were working in. Granted it was a new team in charge who maybe needed to learn the ropes but how hard is it to keep rotating the staff around?
While I was getting the absent voting area sorted out the rest of the group were taking what seemed like an inordinate amount of time to sort and count the house of reps papers. In the end the Officer in Charge finally decided to let most of the staff go instead of continuing to make us watch as she tried once again to balance her figures. I have to admit that there was a little bit of schadenfreude (or zluradost) at seeing the formerly chirpy and bubbly OIC being brought almost to tears by not adding up properly but in the end I just wanted it over and done with and to get home.
Oh and SoccerBuddy and the others failed to qualify for todays finals.
... The Day of Meetings
After spending Wednesday night with Rugrat Twin comparing our holiday photos of Svetlanaland I had to front up at work for Thursday the Day of Meetings.
Meeting one was the Sandringham branch meeting. It was catered beautifully by Mr Prada with more muffins than you could eat - but not me, alas I had other meetings to go to so far too many muffins remained uneaten. Some work stuff was probably talked about while I was eating muffins.
My next meeting, with Bomber Babe, was shifted forward to the moment I walked in the door at Brighton. It was a five minute meeting - the sort were you are only vaguely disappointed in the lack of catering, especially if you are still full of the Sandringham bounty.
Hot on the heals of that came the completely un-catered Service Coordinators meeting. However without any provisions to take my attention I was able to follow most of the meeting and even deflect several more of Torchwood's attempts to undermine me in the eyes of the other coordinators.
Again I went straight into another meeting - this time with The Flibberty Gibbet on her semi (or is it bi?) annual visit. This one, while not catered did become a lunch at the local where I struggled to fit in a full entree and main on top of the multitude of morning muffins. TFG and Supervisor Grand Chief K were their usual well-behaved selves and we were only a quarter hour late back to work.
My short break between meetings became the rest of the afternoon to myself when Supervisor Grand Chief K decreed that our regular catch-up meeting was canceled as we had seen enough of each other lately. So I spent the rest of the afternoon getting some actual work done while my body slowly digested lunch - which it finished just in time for me to rush off to soccer.
Today, in contrast to the day of meetings, started out completely clear but quite quickly disappeared in a haze of odd jobs, system slowdown monitoring, and getting caught at desk helping thecustomers borrowers.
Meeting one was the Sandringham branch meeting. It was catered beautifully by Mr Prada with more muffins than you could eat - but not me, alas I had other meetings to go to so far too many muffins remained uneaten. Some work stuff was probably talked about while I was eating muffins.
My next meeting, with Bomber Babe, was shifted forward to the moment I walked in the door at Brighton. It was a five minute meeting - the sort were you are only vaguely disappointed in the lack of catering, especially if you are still full of the Sandringham bounty.
Hot on the heals of that came the completely un-catered Service Coordinators meeting. However without any provisions to take my attention I was able to follow most of the meeting and even deflect several more of Torchwood's attempts to undermine me in the eyes of the other coordinators.
Again I went straight into another meeting - this time with The Flibberty Gibbet on her semi (or is it bi?) annual visit. This one, while not catered did become a lunch at the local where I struggled to fit in a full entree and main on top of the multitude of morning muffins. TFG and Supervisor Grand Chief K were their usual well-behaved selves and we were only a quarter hour late back to work.
My short break between meetings became the rest of the afternoon to myself when Supervisor Grand Chief K decreed that our regular catch-up meeting was canceled as we had seen enough of each other lately. So I spent the rest of the afternoon getting some actual work done while my body slowly digested lunch - which it finished just in time for me to rush off to soccer.
Today, in contrast to the day of meetings, started out completely clear but quite quickly disappeared in a haze of odd jobs, system slowdown monitoring, and getting caught at desk helping the
... The Strangely Designed Computer System
Yesterday I received an invite to Christmas drinks at the real-estate agents I bought my flat through. The previous owner also had the same invite - delivered to my address. I would have thought that a real estate agents software would be designed to keep it's eye out for this sort of same address issue. Oh well, I guess i get to have twice as many free drinks since I have both invites.
In other sad news Scully has just soiled my enjoyment of Tim-Tams by quoting some facts about each individual biscuit containing the days allowance of fat which makes a pack a day habit deadly and does not bode well for slimming down in preparation for Christmas in Svetlanaland.
In other sad news Scully has just soiled my enjoyment of Tim-Tams by quoting some facts about each individual biscuit containing the days allowance of fat which makes a pack a day habit deadly and does not bode well for slimming down in preparation for Christmas in Svetlanaland.
... Death by Stats
Well here I am up to my neck in stats after a great weekend which included catching up with FridgePower, Illuminated G and others at a wedding celebration on Saturday. Sunday was another of our Magic card tournaments in which I finished a respectable 3rd, behind MatrixMan and Legion2.
However work has been a yo-yo of stats and system crashes meaning that Supervisor Grand Chief K will probably hurt me severely if the system crashes have delayed the stats beyond the end of the day!
Fittingly enough I finished reading Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer this morning. It is volume one of the Book of the New Sun. I was reading it to see if it could be this years holidays reading in the same way that I caught up on the classic Riverworld series last time I was in Svetlanaland. It turned out to be a good read with an intriguing setting and will do fine as holiday reading. Although during our wonderful phone conversation last night Svetlana wants me to leave some books for her and I doubt that the slightly archaic "future" English would be an easy read - not to mention the fantasy aspects - so I'll have to dig up something more girly for her.
However work has been a yo-yo of stats and system crashes meaning that Supervisor Grand Chief K will probably hurt me severely if the system crashes have delayed the stats beyond the end of the day!
Fittingly enough I finished reading Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer this morning. It is volume one of the Book of the New Sun. I was reading it to see if it could be this years holidays reading in the same way that I caught up on the classic Riverworld series last time I was in Svetlanaland. It turned out to be a good read with an intriguing setting and will do fine as holiday reading. Although during our wonderful phone conversation last night Svetlana wants me to leave some books for her and I doubt that the slightly archaic "future" English would be an easy read - not to mention the fantasy aspects - so I'll have to dig up something more girly for her.
... The Courier Run
Here is another caution for you all. When Miss Amanda calls you while you're on your way in to work and asks "what do you have planned for today", always say that you are fully booked. To say something like "I planned to be at Beaumaris but I'm flexible" only invites the soul-sapping activities of doing the courier run because everyone else is at customer service training.
The run itself is not too bad, even with the warm weather, hot van from being in the sun, and mildly hard physical labour. However it does mean that you'll miss the opportunity to slip into the morning tea of the aforementioned customer service training. And it's also guaranteed that when you do finally finish and begin contemplating lunch the whole internet connection will drop out and you'll be running around getting that sorted for hours before being able to drag your starved self away for a late afternoon feed.
The day can however end on a good note if you head over to BestFriendSincePrep's for a swim in his pool, some beers and a good close game of Memoir '44.
The run itself is not too bad, even with the warm weather, hot van from being in the sun, and mildly hard physical labour. However it does mean that you'll miss the opportunity to slip into the morning tea of the aforementioned customer service training. And it's also guaranteed that when you do finally finish and begin contemplating lunch the whole internet connection will drop out and you'll be running around getting that sorted for hours before being able to drag your starved self away for a late afternoon feed.
The day can however end on a good note if you head over to BestFriendSincePrep's for a swim in his pool, some beers and a good close game of Memoir '44.
... The Worst Thing A Suburban Girl Could Imagine
This was the book that I received at Doom and The Doctor's wedding.
It is Pocket Penguin 57 in the Penguin 70th year birthday series and I knocked it off on the train trip into work this morning. It was okay, well written, but nothing particularly exciting story-wise.
It is Pocket Penguin 57 in the Penguin 70th year birthday series and I knocked it off on the train trip into work this morning. It was okay, well written, but nothing particularly exciting story-wise.
... Blood of Angels by Michael Marshall
I couldn't stop myself from sitting down this afternoon and reading through the last fifty pages of this - the third "crime" novel by Michael Marshall Smith.
His writing is once again clear and flowing and the observations on human behavior are just as good as they are in his scifi books.
I hope that the many people who've left their mark in the back of the book (in the right place but without a sticker to direct them so they have been well trained) are tempted to find his scifi books since they are all essentially also about world-weary detective types who find redemption. Of course they probably "never read that sort of stuff".
His writing is once again clear and flowing and the observations on human behavior are just as good as they are in his scifi books.
I hope that the many people who've left their mark in the back of the book (in the right place but without a sticker to direct them so they have been well trained) are tempted to find his scifi books since they are all essentially also about world-weary detective types who find redemption. Of course they probably "never read that sort of stuff".
... The Grab bag of Things
There's been no real focus to what I've been up to the last few days - except for being overworked of course.
Thursday's day of meetings began with a surprise visit from Supervisor S and the introduction of Mini S who limpeted to S the whole time they were visiting.
My next "meeting" of the day was my attempt to order some custom blinds for the flat since summer is rolling in and the natural light can get a bit much at times. In any case it took a good 25 to 30 minutes for the sales girl to input the order for my 5 different blinds into their computer system. I did multiple circuits of the shop admiring there many plastic plants and painful looking couches while it was all entered. The least they could have done was supply some coffee and/or cakes while I waited. I don't want to think about being the IT staff supporting the use of that application software.
This caused me to arrive late for my next meeting, which was with Torchwood, and provided more fuel for her systematic workplace bullying of me to continue.
I did finally make it to soccer only to have it not run overtime as another group kicked us off for their own session. I was forced to call Svetlana in order to de-stress and then headed of to gaming for the rest of the evening.
Friday morning was hijacked at the last minute with customer service training - which was in itself not too bad but did include homework! And people wonder why I don't have time for things like stats and 2.0.
I did manage to install new LMS clients at Beaumaris in the afternoon. This latest version is supposed to have improved speed for issues and returns - so fingers crossed that the freezing monkey will finally get off my back.
I spent a few hours of my quiet weekend afternoon wrestling my VPN into action with the help of SoccerBuddy. My remote spying from home is now enabled so I can be all ghostly and move the mouse when staff have the temerity to call me while I'm on call.
Thursday's day of meetings began with a surprise visit from Supervisor S and the introduction of Mini S who limpeted to S the whole time they were visiting.
My next "meeting" of the day was my attempt to order some custom blinds for the flat since summer is rolling in and the natural light can get a bit much at times. In any case it took a good 25 to 30 minutes for the sales girl to input the order for my 5 different blinds into their computer system. I did multiple circuits of the shop admiring there many plastic plants and painful looking couches while it was all entered. The least they could have done was supply some coffee and/or cakes while I waited. I don't want to think about being the IT staff supporting the use of that application software.
This caused me to arrive late for my next meeting, which was with Torchwood, and provided more fuel for her systematic workplace bullying of me to continue.
I did finally make it to soccer only to have it not run overtime as another group kicked us off for their own session. I was forced to call Svetlana in order to de-stress and then headed of to gaming for the rest of the evening.
Friday morning was hijacked at the last minute with customer service training - which was in itself not too bad but did include homework! And people wonder why I don't have time for things like stats and 2.0.
I did manage to install new LMS clients at Beaumaris in the afternoon. This latest version is supposed to have improved speed for issues and returns - so fingers crossed that the freezing monkey will finally get off my back.
I spent a few hours of my quiet weekend afternoon wrestling my VPN into action with the help of SoccerBuddy. My remote spying from home is now enabled so I can be all ghostly and move the mouse when staff have the temerity to call me while I'm on call.
... A Cup Day BBQ
After some relatively sedate Monday night drinks to celebrate Legion4's birthday Melbourne Cup Day began with a much needed sleep in - barely feline interrupted at all.
My impeccable complimentary gastronomic timing had me arrive at MrRogers's BBQ just as the meat from the spit roast was being served. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching races, fashion and kids running amuck. BestFriendSincePrep brought his brood and so did The Electric Tiger. It is uncanny how the kids know to come and stand in front of the TV for the three minutes of The Race after being elsewhere for an hour.
Later in the afternoon I was subjected to some SMS stalking by The Flibberty Gibbet thanks to the enabling activities of Supervisor Grand Chief K.
Some pseudo regular gaming occurred in the evening with Legion2 and ArchEnemy.
After such a lovely day off I returned to work today to confront issues small and large and the prospect of the looming RFID implementation. All that work ahead makes the prospect of being kidnapped in Svetlanaland seem all the more tempting.
My impeccable complimentary gastronomic timing had me arrive at MrRogers's BBQ just as the meat from the spit roast was being served. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching races, fashion and kids running amuck. BestFriendSincePrep brought his brood and so did The Electric Tiger. It is uncanny how the kids know to come and stand in front of the TV for the three minutes of The Race after being elsewhere for an hour.
Later in the afternoon I was subjected to some SMS stalking by The Flibberty Gibbet thanks to the enabling activities of Supervisor Grand Chief K.
Some pseudo regular gaming occurred in the evening with Legion2 and ArchEnemy.
After such a lovely day off I returned to work today to confront issues small and large and the prospect of the looming RFID implementation. All that work ahead makes the prospect of being kidnapped in Svetlanaland seem all the more tempting.
... The Three Days of the Conference
Day One
My conference experience began with catching the plane to Canberra at a sensible time of the morning. This time there is no drama getting to the airport - unlike my Libraries online flat tire incident.
The flight up is quite pleasant, although we are on a Dash 8, which causes Supervisor Grand Chief K to go into paroxysms of anxiety as it is propeller driven.
Upon arrival we check in and then wait 30 minutes to have our quiet drink on the patio delivered.
The rest of my afternoon was taken up with with a visit to the Australian War Memorial. It was a great refresher of my memories from the visit with the cubs when I was ten - although the groups of school kids were getting on my nerves by the end of it. The dioramas were still as impressive as I remembered them.
When the memorial closed I walked back to the hotel through the fly-infested centre of Canberra and freshened up in preparation for the evenings festivities.
Suitably refreshed I made my way downstairs for the evenings "cocktail" reception. (Being wise to my complaints about libraryland cocktails they had declared the evening to be merely a Welcome Reception.)
After a few drinks, as many free nibbles as one could gather when the trays circulated past, and several hours of conversation, we all adjourned to the hotel bar to watch the debut episode of the new ABC series the librarians. Due to a fluke of the sound system the best place to be was on the patio looking in at the screen on the far wall. The show was well received although we missed many of the subtle spoken jokes and the subtitles were unreadable at the distance.
When the show finished we all went to bed so that we would be suitably refreshed for the serious conferencing in the morning. ;)
Or not. That last sentence was simply for the "what happens on the conference stays on the conference" agreements. In reality a reasonable sized group stayed on in the bar until it closed. After that unfortunate occurrence a smaller group returned to The Flibberty Gibbet's room to drink the mini-bar dry. Our gentlemanly manners had us leave at 2am when TFG passed out/fell asleep.
Day Two
Day two began with a restrained use of the breakfast smorgasboard followed by conference registration. After that we were into the sessions.
The LMS supplier gave their usual state of the nation session, interrupted by a morning tea of some lovely little pastries, followed by their what's new and upcoming session.
This took us to the lunch which was of the cold meats and salad style with plenty of variety.
The afternoon sessions encompassed RFID and web 2.0 - all things I knew quite a lot about but it was all still very interesting. Supervisor Grand Chief K did attempt to ridicule me during her Library 2.0 spiel but I think the audience could see through her shallow attempt to besmirch my name.
After the sessions I went for walk along Lake Burley Griffen but the masses of flies soon forced me to turn back. After a short stop at the hotel bar to socialise with SGCK and friends I returned to my room to relax and prepare for the conference dinner.
Waking from a strange dream I realised that I must have fallen asleep and was now late for dinner. Not to worry though as my timing was immaculate - I arrived just before entree - and was probably considered to be fashionably late.
The dinner was quite good, and we were 15 stories up, but I think Mr Prada is correct and it lacked that extra something that revolving adds to a meal. There was much talk and socialising for the duration of the dinner which was all quite good even though I was beginning to get an idea of the plans being hatched for the morrow.
Not long after dessert we all headed off to our rooms to rest up for the final day of the conference. ;)
The true story is that most of the attendees stayed on in the restaurant until the free wine bottles were emptied and then headed down to the hotel bar were we once again stayed on until it closed.
A slightly differently composed smaller group then retired to a room to drink the mini-bar, and several others, dry. I forced myself to leave at 2.30am when my eyelids were beginning to fail.
Day Three
The third day began innocently enough with a late trip to the breakfast table.
The morning session was the AGM for SPUN, the organisation we were members of. It was during this meeting that the insidious plans of the night before were hatched. The result being that I found myself elected as the organisations Secretary for the next term of office. My fellow electees - Madame President and The Professor(treasurer) - took it so well that I had no choice but to play along. I do think that I will have to insist on being addressed as Mr Secretary from now on.
Still stunned at my election I nearly missed out on scones with cream and jam at morning tea but my instincts prevailed before tragedy struck.
The next few sessions gave the group the chance to put the hard word on the LMS suppliers and go a little more in-depth into the reporting capabilities of the LMS.
After a nice Asian lunch we had sessions on RFID, Wireless, and the many programlets that The Professor uses in his IT duties. All were things I knew about so I may have had some difficulty focusing.
The conference closed and a group of us had a few drinks on the rear veranda baking under the hot Canberra sun. We then moved to the bar to await our taxis.
A short, but highly cliched, taxi trip to the airport later we crammed into the exclusive lounge area to freeload while we waited for our continually delayed flight home.
Eventually we were allowed to board. This time Supervisor Grand Chief K hadn't booked us seats together and I didn't have to put up with the high-pitched noise... of the engines. Which was good as the strain of the past few days of concentration on the sessions had led to some slight cranial tightness.
We were delayed coming into Tullamarine and then again on the ground when they couldn't find anyone to attach the departure bridge. Once that was sorted out we had to wait again as there was nobody to unload our luggage. (I suspect that they had been reassigned to bridge-moving).
Luck turned after then though as I walked straight out of the terminal and into the long term car park bus.
In no time at all I was on my way home to feed The Tiger and provide her with some much missed human companionship.
Fingers crossed that Supervisor Grand Chief K will accept this as my conference report - her and her damnable bureaucracy!
My conference experience began with catching the plane to Canberra at a sensible time of the morning. This time there is no drama getting to the airport - unlike my Libraries online flat tire incident.
The flight up is quite pleasant, although we are on a Dash 8, which causes Supervisor Grand Chief K to go into paroxysms of anxiety as it is propeller driven.
Upon arrival we check in and then wait 30 minutes to have our quiet drink on the patio delivered.
The rest of my afternoon was taken up with with a visit to the Australian War Memorial. It was a great refresher of my memories from the visit with the cubs when I was ten - although the groups of school kids were getting on my nerves by the end of it. The dioramas were still as impressive as I remembered them.
When the memorial closed I walked back to the hotel through the fly-infested centre of Canberra and freshened up in preparation for the evenings festivities.
Suitably refreshed I made my way downstairs for the evenings "cocktail" reception. (Being wise to my complaints about libraryland cocktails they had declared the evening to be merely a Welcome Reception.)
After a few drinks, as many free nibbles as one could gather when the trays circulated past, and several hours of conversation, we all adjourned to the hotel bar to watch the debut episode of the new ABC series the librarians. Due to a fluke of the sound system the best place to be was on the patio looking in at the screen on the far wall. The show was well received although we missed many of the subtle spoken jokes and the subtitles were unreadable at the distance.
When the show finished we all went to bed so that we would be suitably refreshed for the serious conferencing in the morning. ;)
Or not. That last sentence was simply for the "what happens on the conference stays on the conference" agreements. In reality a reasonable sized group stayed on in the bar until it closed. After that unfortunate occurrence a smaller group returned to The Flibberty Gibbet's room to drink the mini-bar dry. Our gentlemanly manners had us leave at 2am when TFG passed out/fell asleep.
Day Two
Day two began with a restrained use of the breakfast smorgasboard followed by conference registration. After that we were into the sessions.
The LMS supplier gave their usual state of the nation session, interrupted by a morning tea of some lovely little pastries, followed by their what's new and upcoming session.
This took us to the lunch which was of the cold meats and salad style with plenty of variety.
The afternoon sessions encompassed RFID and web 2.0 - all things I knew quite a lot about but it was all still very interesting. Supervisor Grand Chief K did attempt to ridicule me during her Library 2.0 spiel but I think the audience could see through her shallow attempt to besmirch my name.
After the sessions I went for walk along Lake Burley Griffen but the masses of flies soon forced me to turn back. After a short stop at the hotel bar to socialise with SGCK and friends I returned to my room to relax and prepare for the conference dinner.
Waking from a strange dream I realised that I must have fallen asleep and was now late for dinner. Not to worry though as my timing was immaculate - I arrived just before entree - and was probably considered to be fashionably late.
The dinner was quite good, and we were 15 stories up, but I think Mr Prada is correct and it lacked that extra something that revolving adds to a meal. There was much talk and socialising for the duration of the dinner which was all quite good even though I was beginning to get an idea of the plans being hatched for the morrow.
Not long after dessert we all headed off to our rooms to rest up for the final day of the conference. ;)
The true story is that most of the attendees stayed on in the restaurant until the free wine bottles were emptied and then headed down to the hotel bar were we once again stayed on until it closed.
A slightly differently composed smaller group then retired to a room to drink the mini-bar, and several others, dry. I forced myself to leave at 2.30am when my eyelids were beginning to fail.
Day Three
The third day began innocently enough with a late trip to the breakfast table.
The morning session was the AGM for SPUN, the organisation we were members of. It was during this meeting that the insidious plans of the night before were hatched. The result being that I found myself elected as the organisations Secretary for the next term of office. My fellow electees - Madame President and The Professor(treasurer) - took it so well that I had no choice but to play along. I do think that I will have to insist on being addressed as Mr Secretary from now on.
Still stunned at my election I nearly missed out on scones with cream and jam at morning tea but my instincts prevailed before tragedy struck.
The next few sessions gave the group the chance to put the hard word on the LMS suppliers and go a little more in-depth into the reporting capabilities of the LMS.
After a nice Asian lunch we had sessions on RFID, Wireless, and the many programlets that The Professor uses in his IT duties. All were things I knew about so I may have had some difficulty focusing.
The conference closed and a group of us had a few drinks on the rear veranda baking under the hot Canberra sun. We then moved to the bar to await our taxis.
A short, but highly cliched, taxi trip to the airport later we crammed into the exclusive lounge area to freeload while we waited for our continually delayed flight home.
Eventually we were allowed to board. This time Supervisor Grand Chief K hadn't booked us seats together and I didn't have to put up with the high-pitched noise... of the engines. Which was good as the strain of the past few days of concentration on the sessions had led to some slight cranial tightness.
We were delayed coming into Tullamarine and then again on the ground when they couldn't find anyone to attach the departure bridge. Once that was sorted out we had to wait again as there was nobody to unload our luggage. (I suspect that they had been reassigned to bridge-moving).
Luck turned after then though as I walked straight out of the terminal and into the long term car park bus.
In no time at all I was on my way home to feed The Tiger and provide her with some much missed human companionship.
Fingers crossed that Supervisor Grand Chief K will accept this as my conference report - her and her damnable bureaucracy!
... The Hanging Mountains by Sean Williams
I finished this third book of the Cataclysm on Wednesday before flitting off for the conference in Canberra.
It continued on with the story that will probably, collectively, be my favourite read for the year. The writing continues to be good and flows well. The characters and situations expand the world and the pieces of the overall story are starting to come together. I will be reading the next book very shortly I think.
It continued on with the story that will probably, collectively, be my favourite read for the year. The writing continues to be good and flows well. The characters and situations expand the world and the pieces of the overall story are starting to come together. I will be reading the next book very shortly I think.
... The Last-minute MC
Yesterday was the big wedding of Doom and The Doctor. I was asked to MC the occasion only a few days ago and after sleeping on it decided to accept the offer. I was a little nervous but not as much as for previous best man and psuedo best man speeches. It helped to be able to refer to my notes between speeches and I was wrapped to be able to do my intros without a piece of paper in my hands. Unfortunately a few great lines we're forgotten but I can always save them for my stint as Legion2's best man next February. In any case it all went over well - people laughed and nobody was traumatized by my wildly inaccurate mini-biographies.
Many people I knew we're there and it was great to have the annual catch up with The Fungi Lady, who flew in especially for the occasion. Alas I had to dance with MatrixMan, my "date" for the evening, since Svetlana was unavailable.
All guests were given a Pocket Penguin as a memento of the wedding, which is a lovely gesture, but I am worried that I may have been specifically targeted to receive "The Worst Thing A Suburban Girl Could Imagine". I'll have to see what I think once I've read it.
Also in the last few days I scored another goal at soccer bringing my tally to 5 in 13 months so I'm now on one every 10 weeks or so. Still some room for improvement.
This morning I coffee'd at the Vic Market with Rugrat Twin, fresh back from Europe and Svetlanaland. She passed on some great gifts from Svetlana and photos from the trip before consenting to play the role of fashion adviser as I topped up my wardrobe in my bid to inch closer in the fashion stakes to Mr Prada (whom I bear only the slightest of malice towards - despite what you may read into my meandering musings LittleBigGirl !!)
The rest of this afternoon was spent wrestling with my stupid modem at home as it refused to allow me an ADSL connection so I could try to remotely fix some problems at work. I am suspicious That I have recently begun having problems and then Telstra calls me out of the blue offerring me "Fantastic" broadband deals. Make of that what you will...
Many people I knew we're there and it was great to have the annual catch up with The Fungi Lady, who flew in especially for the occasion. Alas I had to dance with MatrixMan, my "date" for the evening, since Svetlana was unavailable.
All guests were given a Pocket Penguin as a memento of the wedding, which is a lovely gesture, but I am worried that I may have been specifically targeted to receive "The Worst Thing A Suburban Girl Could Imagine". I'll have to see what I think once I've read it.
Also in the last few days I scored another goal at soccer bringing my tally to 5 in 13 months so I'm now on one every 10 weeks or so. Still some room for improvement.
This morning I coffee'd at the Vic Market with Rugrat Twin, fresh back from Europe and Svetlanaland. She passed on some great gifts from Svetlana and photos from the trip before consenting to play the role of fashion adviser as I topped up my wardrobe in my bid to inch closer in the fashion stakes to Mr Prada (whom I bear only the slightest of malice towards - despite what you may read into my meandering musings LittleBigGirl !!)
The rest of this afternoon was spent wrestling with my stupid modem at home as it refused to allow me an ADSL connection so I could try to remotely fix some problems at work. I am suspicious That I have recently begun having problems and then Telstra calls me out of the blue offerring me "Fantastic" broadband deals. Make of that what you will...
... A Serious Lack of Mr Prada
I had to run another Your Library @ Home class for the public yesterday but this time without Mr Prada who is off in Mapleland.
I had a couple of complete beginners in the class who had to be shown how to use the mouse. Even after they left I found that it would have been a great help to have a second person to roam the room helping people login to their accounts and deal with those little problems that continuously popup when the students don't follow your instructions to the letter.
I had a couple of complete beginners in the class who had to be shown how to use the mouse. Even after they left I found that it would have been a great help to have a second person to roam the room helping people login to their accounts and deal with those little problems that continuously popup when the students don't follow your instructions to the letter.
... The Buck's Weekend
My weekend was dominated by bucks activities.
Saturday afternoon was filled with paintball fun. I collected Gavman, MatrixMan, and Amoeba and we headed off to the foothills of Mt Disappointment to play several games over the course of the stinking hot afternoon.
It was a lot of fun and - for me personally - not as painful as I'd feared. It would have been better if the opposition had the strength of character to not cheat (they basically played "got you - did not" with us all afternoon). The final game for the day had just our group hunting Camo Spice and the buck, Doom who had been outfitted in Kelly-gang style armour until we all ran out of ammo.
In the evening a smaller group of us recuperated with some more traditional Buck's night fare of dinner, booze and boobs. I may have been affected by the amount I had to drink as I decided to walk home from the city. It did start out as walking to the other side of the CBD abut then it was only a short way to the next road and then the next and before I knew it I was home.
Sunday was a rest day topped off with our second annual Absent Friends game of Jyhad (the card game of Vampire politics) played in memory of a friend who lost his battle against leukemia last year. My political deck won after a few timely card draws.
This morning was a meeting about printers and copiers with my new best friend as we talked about the options open to us as we get our three quotes before changing all the equipment over.
The highlight of the day, though, would have to have been the free lunch as part of the organisational catch-up program. Although I did find it strangely structured for a event that was supposed to get staff to mingle.
Saturday afternoon was filled with paintball fun. I collected Gavman, MatrixMan, and Amoeba and we headed off to the foothills of Mt Disappointment to play several games over the course of the stinking hot afternoon.
It was a lot of fun and - for me personally - not as painful as I'd feared. It would have been better if the opposition had the strength of character to not cheat (they basically played "got you - did not" with us all afternoon). The final game for the day had just our group hunting Camo Spice and the buck, Doom who had been outfitted in Kelly-gang style armour until we all ran out of ammo.
In the evening a smaller group of us recuperated with some more traditional Buck's night fare of dinner, booze and boobs. I may have been affected by the amount I had to drink as I decided to walk home from the city. It did start out as walking to the other side of the CBD abut then it was only a short way to the next road and then the next and before I knew it I was home.
Sunday was a rest day topped off with our second annual Absent Friends game of Jyhad (the card game of Vampire politics) played in memory of a friend who lost his battle against leukemia last year. My political deck won after a few timely card draws.
This morning was a meeting about printers and copiers with my new best friend as we talked about the options open to us as we get our three quotes before changing all the equipment over.
The highlight of the day, though, would have to have been the free lunch as part of the organisational catch-up program. Although I did find it strangely structured for a event that was supposed to get staff to mingle.
... The Stealing of Wireless Go-Live Day
Today the wireless-internet-hotspot-access-point went live to the public. There is still a bit of staff training and a few signs to go up but we had several happy customers. Miss Amanda did her best Mr Prada impersonation and created most of the documentation for staff. Supervisor Grand Chief K then cunningly distracted me with free sandwiches so that they could steal all the glory and run around signing up innocent laptop-using borrowers.
All of this happened while Torchwood and I were off at a council web site team meeting. We came back all inspired to double team some changes and updates through - and may finally replace Bomber Babe's photo on the web site.
All of this happened while Torchwood and I were off at a council web site team meeting. We came back all inspired to double team some changes and updates through - and may finally replace Bomber Babe's photo on the web site.
... The High School Reunion
Last night was my 20 year HSC reunion.
Despite having found my old school jumper the other week when I was cleaning out the last of my clothes boxes from the big move I decided against wearing something that would be skin tight nowadays. (Although the number of times I was told I haven't changed makes me wonder if I shouldn't have squeezed myself into the jumper after all...)
With BestFriendSincePrep, StumpyRudolph, and MrRogers all away at a golfing weekend it was up to me to hold the fort for the group that I still see regularly. I had a great time and was a little overwhelmed at seeing the older version of close to 100 people despite having relatively fresh memories of the 20 odd who went to the smaller 18 year get-together.
There was a little too much noise - music and chatter - to have a really good conversation and I even had to just nod and smile a few times.
Some of the highlights: two sets of twins, short conversations with the two guys who gave me some low level bullying in year 7, not even noticing it was 3am, people who looked 50 and others who looked 18, a wide mix of jobs (surprisingly few IT Guys), reminding people of nicknames and incidents they'd forgotten, hanging out with the popular girls.
Apparently we're going to aim to have one every 5 years from now on, like a mis-timed 7Up. I look forward to going to the next one.
Despite having found my old school jumper the other week when I was cleaning out the last of my clothes boxes from the big move I decided against wearing something that would be skin tight nowadays. (Although the number of times I was told I haven't changed makes me wonder if I shouldn't have squeezed myself into the jumper after all...)
With BestFriendSincePrep, StumpyRudolph, and MrRogers all away at a golfing weekend it was up to me to hold the fort for the group that I still see regularly. I had a great time and was a little overwhelmed at seeing the older version of close to 100 people despite having relatively fresh memories of the 20 odd who went to the smaller 18 year get-together.
There was a little too much noise - music and chatter - to have a really good conversation and I even had to just nod and smile a few times.
Some of the highlights: two sets of twins, short conversations with the two guys who gave me some low level bullying in year 7, not even noticing it was 3am, people who looked 50 and others who looked 18, a wide mix of jobs (surprisingly few IT Guys), reminding people of nicknames and incidents they'd forgotten, hanging out with the popular girls.
Apparently we're going to aim to have one every 5 years from now on, like a mis-timed 7Up. I look forward to going to the next one.
... Success with Wireless
All of a sudden, on Friday morning, the last steps had been made and the wireless set up was ready to go to the people stage. Which means I have to create the documentation for staff on how to sign up accounts, decide what sort of account limits/freedoms we will allow, and liaise with Torchwood the new marketing coordinator to get the message out to the public.
The last may not be strictly necessary as we had a couple of people approach the desk to find out how to connect as they'd picked up the connection once it was switched on for testing. One of them amused me as he was an expert and had done it before: "you just plug the equipment in and then print out passwords for people". On being told that we had to allow for control of bandwidth and security he scoffed that we must be doing something wrong if we can't get unlimited bandwidth.
I hope they don't get him to replace me at the library!!
The last may not be strictly necessary as we had a couple of people approach the desk to find out how to connect as they'd picked up the connection once it was switched on for testing. One of them amused me as he was an expert and had done it before: "you just plug the equipment in and then print out passwords for people". On being told that we had to allow for control of bandwidth and security he scoffed that we must be doing something wrong if we can't get unlimited bandwidth.
I hope they don't get him to replace me at the library!!
... The Weeping Women Hotel by Alexei Sayle
I finished this early in the week and it was good but not great. The big tying together of all the characters happened in a couple of paragraphs and then it was over.
I might still chase up his other books in a while - depending on how quickly the weeded books stack up at home.
I might still chase up his other books in a while - depending on how quickly the weeded books stack up at home.
... The Great Frankston Road Trip
Today Sister Serials and I ventured down the highway to avail ourselves of the Frankston library Service knowledge of the more confusing parts of Spydus Serials.
Along the way I subjected the good Sister to the torture of my 70's era teach yourself Svetlana-ese tapes, and followed it up with a good dose of Radio-Phill from the iPod. She seems to have survived intact though so I'll have to increase the dosage next time.
Once there, some light was shed on the areas of Serials that may be causing our repeated problems with 'those darn magazines' as I like to refer to them.
We also had a demo of several of the IT support programlets that Frankston's IT nice-guy, The Professor, uses to automate several of the day to day tasks that we IT people have to slog our way through oh so frequently. The public PC booking software was particularly impressive and I may recommend that we see if it's possible to institute it at our branches - even though it would mean yet another project upon my overburdened shoulders, sigh.
Oh and the lunch wasn't free but it was in enormous proportions!
Along the way I subjected the good Sister to the torture of my 70's era teach yourself Svetlana-ese tapes, and followed it up with a good dose of Radio-Phill from the iPod. She seems to have survived intact though so I'll have to increase the dosage next time.
Once there, some light was shed on the areas of Serials that may be causing our repeated problems with 'those darn magazines' as I like to refer to them.
We also had a demo of several of the IT support programlets that Frankston's IT nice-guy, The Professor, uses to automate several of the day to day tasks that we IT people have to slog our way through oh so frequently. The public PC booking software was particularly impressive and I may recommend that we see if it's possible to institute it at our branches - even though it would mean yet another project upon my overburdened shoulders, sigh.
Oh and the lunch wasn't free but it was in enormous proportions!
... Bad Timing by Rebecca Levene
I actually finished reading this yesterday but promotion is much more important in the exciting world of library IT.
This is a Strontium Dog novel based on the characters from 2000AD - a fine publication of which I am a regular reader. It's the first I've read of the recent run of tie-in novels and it gets off to a reasonable start. The prose flows, the ideas fit the Strontium Dog universe and the established continuity is followed so I'm a relatively happy fanboy.
It doesn't reach great heights but it's a good comfortable read.
My next (current actually) book was supposed to be the next in the Books of the Cataclysm but my eye was caught on Thursday morning, while waiting for the public PCs to reboot yet again, and I have commenced an investigation of what type of author Alexie Sayle is (so far he is in the Vonnegut/Foster Wallace area).
In other news Rugrat Twin should be partying away with Svetlana at this very moment as her holiday takes her into Svetlanaland a mere couple of months before I can get over there. No doubt my entrapment is being schemed at this very moment...
This is a Strontium Dog novel based on the characters from 2000AD - a fine publication of which I am a regular reader. It's the first I've read of the recent run of tie-in novels and it gets off to a reasonable start. The prose flows, the ideas fit the Strontium Dog universe and the established continuity is followed so I'm a relatively happy fanboy.
It doesn't reach great heights but it's a good comfortable read.
My next (current actually) book was supposed to be the next in the Books of the Cataclysm but my eye was caught on Thursday morning, while waiting for the public PCs to reboot yet again, and I have commenced an investigation of what type of author Alexie Sayle is (so far he is in the Vonnegut/Foster Wallace area).
In other news Rugrat Twin should be partying away with Svetlana at this very moment as her holiday takes her into Svetlanaland a mere couple of months before I can get over there. No doubt my entrapment is being schemed at this very moment...
... The Great Re-Banding
It is now official. Thanks to one of Supervisor S's final suggestions before abandoning us, and Supervisor Grand Chief K pushing it through at the council castle, I am now a band 6a and retitled as IT Support Coordinator comma Libraries.
Unfortunately it's not all roses as I now have more responsibility etc. Including this doozy -"To ensure staff are sophisticated users of library technology"
Hopefully I can cover that one by buying a lot of snazzy hats for everyone.
Oh well back to the grindstone...
Unfortunately it's not all roses as I now have more responsibility etc. Including this doozy -"To ensure staff are sophisticated users of library technology"
Hopefully I can cover that one by buying a lot of snazzy hats for everyone.
Oh well back to the grindstone...
... The Day of Training
Finally the second best day of the year arrived today! The second training day! Free lunch, morning tea and post-training drinks. Timetabling issues reduced my LMS class to a speedy rush through the first few of the issues I had planned to cover. In one of the earlier sessions I was cruelly taunted with Svetlana's far-awayness when we were presented with her poster appearance for some reader's advising material produced by my previous library service. I miss that hyena laugh she was pictured midway through.
In other news this evening's episode of Californication has redeemed the show just when I was getting a little tired of it by featuring the Warren Zevon song "Don't Let Us Get Sick" not once but twice!!
In other news this evening's episode of Californication has redeemed the show just when I was getting a little tired of it by featuring the Warren Zevon song "Don't Let Us Get Sick" not once but twice!!
... The Power Failure at the 'G
I spent an enjoyable afternoon yesterday at BestFriendSincePrep's for a Grand Final Day BBQ along with Legion2, Gavman, ArchEnemy, StumpyRudolph, ElfBoy and many others. It was fantastic to see the arrogant Port humbled in the game and we were all cheering for the same side for once.
I think we need to start a petition to have pies placed second for the season as we clearly outplayed both of the other top four teams against Geelong.
I think we need to start a petition to have pies placed second for the season as we clearly outplayed both of the other top four teams against Geelong.
... The Haircut Theory of Scoring
And I mean goal scoring. After getting a great shortening of the freeloading locks on Tuesday, I was able to front up to Thursday nights soccer and score within the opening ten minutes. The total is up to four now - two scored in the week of a haircut. I am considering having my sideburns trimmed every week now and I guess I have further insight into sporting superstitions.
The goal was even more amazing for my ability to score it after being stuffed full of food from the sad farewell to Simmone who is leaving to spawn a future tormentor of IT staff.
The goal was even more amazing for my ability to score it after being stuffed full of food from the sad farewell to Simmone who is leaving to spawn a future tormentor of IT staff.
... The RFID Disaster
This Wednesday was a meeting discussing RFID which went all morning and ended without a free lunch! The presence of Krispy Kremes for morning tea does make up for it somewhat but still... what was Supervisor Grand Chief K thinking sending people away starving after such a long meeting.
As to the content of the meeting... it was interesting and has certainly started the thought processes that will lead to us not just walking blindly into adopting this new technology.
As to the content of the meeting... it was interesting and has certainly started the thought processes that will lead to us not just walking blindly into adopting this new technology.
... The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
Thanks to the miracle of reading on the train I finished the second book in the Magic Wood trilogy today.
The last third of the book was, much like the first book, an interesting rollercoaster heading to the end. It's a shame the first two-thirds is stretched out with all that Family-Saga stuff.
Oh and, dammit, there are dragons in it now. I can just hear the I told you so's from Supervisor S and Sister Serials.
Also, Nancy Pearl be damned, I think that in about six months I'll slog through the first half of the last book of the trilogy to get to it's rollercoaster finish too.
The last third of the book was, much like the first book, an interesting rollercoaster heading to the end. It's a shame the first two-thirds is stretched out with all that Family-Saga stuff.
Oh and, dammit, there are dragons in it now. I can just hear the I told you so's from Supervisor S and Sister Serials.
Also, Nancy Pearl be damned, I think that in about six months I'll slog through the first half of the last book of the trilogy to get to it's rollercoaster finish too.
... The Big Loss
I've just watched the mighty pies give a great account of themselves and come achingly close to winning their way into another Grand Final. It was a hard fought game with a little bit of everything including a Didak special - out of the air, over his head and through the middle. I hope Ms Magpie managed to survive the nail-biting final minutes without too much trouble.
Oh well at least Scully won't be missing the team in a Grand Final when she scoots off overseas next week.
Oh and Supervisor S has left the organisation as well.
Oh well at least Scully won't be missing the team in a Grand Final when she scoots off overseas next week.
Oh and Supervisor S has left the organisation as well.
... Another Free Lunch
The first two days of the week I was back at my spiritual home branch Sandringham. Monday night I hosted CC for the return dinner and then had a nice long phone talk with Svetlana the first for a while and I didn't realise how much I missed our talks until she had to hang up on me to get me to stop talking. Tuesday was a card's only gaming night but I think ArchEnemy may have given me the cold he dragged himself out of bed with just so he could play.
Today was my regular day at Beaumaris. It was, as usual, interrupted. This time I had to go to Corp HQ for a user group meeting and a free lunch. The lunch happened at the beginning so I'm not sure why I stayed. It did have it's benefits though - as CC demo'd the helpdesk software we use I had many "oh it can do that" moments and I am going to start using it more heavily again.
After staying back late at Bea yakking with Ms Magpie and Mr Prada I dropped by JB on the way home to collect the new Tanya Donelly album. By new I mean released a year ago - which shows how long it is since I looked at her web page (if only there was some really simple syndicated way of being informed of updates to web sites).
Today was my regular day at Beaumaris. It was, as usual, interrupted. This time I had to go to Corp HQ for a user group meeting and a free lunch. The lunch happened at the beginning so I'm not sure why I stayed. It did have it's benefits though - as CC demo'd the helpdesk software we use I had many "oh it can do that" moments and I am going to start using it more heavily again.
After staying back late at Bea yakking with Ms Magpie and Mr Prada I dropped by JB on the way home to collect the new Tanya Donelly album. By new I mean released a year ago - which shows how long it is since I looked at her web page (if only there was some really simple syndicated way of being informed of updates to web sites).
... one Good Weekend
The weekend got off to a great start with a three hour toddler shower for Supervisor S consuming most of Friday. The evening was a farewell dinner for Rugrat Twin off to visit Japan, Europe and Svetlanaland - I am jealous.
After the dinner I got home, rewound the tape and watched The Mighty Pies win their way through to the next final - worth staying up until three to watch.
Saturday was mostly a sleep in (interrupted by the obligatory call from Sister Serials) and a trip out to the homeland to fix Freeloading Mum's internet. The evening was a poker night at Legion3's which went late into the night.
This morning, after the recovery sleep in, I doddled about the flat for a bit before heading to the cinema to use the second of the tickets I'd received for being bestest in the library before it expired next Friday. I chose Once, mostly because I'd heard it was good and there was nothing else on that caught my eye. I thought I was going to have to miss out on the film when Miss Amanda called to tell me of system troubles whilst the adds were running. I called our suppliers emergency number but nobody answered so, with little I could do, I went back into the movie.
I think I'm glad I did. For a while after coming out of the cinema I could only speak movie-poster, i.e. "Heartbreaking","Emotionally powerful".
Librarian Idol does a much better job at describing the film than I could ever do.
The power of Once was so strong that it kept our supplier from following up on the help call until after it had finished. Several back and forth calls and another 45 minutes later the problem was solved. I am not too impressed by that speed of service but several previous weekend emergencies have been dealt with almost immediately so I'll let it pass as an anomaly.
In order to recover from Once I watched Dodgeball tonight. It was exactly what I expected and all is back in balance now.
After the dinner I got home, rewound the tape and watched The Mighty Pies win their way through to the next final - worth staying up until three to watch.
Saturday was mostly a sleep in (interrupted by the obligatory call from Sister Serials) and a trip out to the homeland to fix Freeloading Mum's internet. The evening was a poker night at Legion3's which went late into the night.
This morning, after the recovery sleep in, I doddled about the flat for a bit before heading to the cinema to use the second of the tickets I'd received for being bestest in the library before it expired next Friday. I chose Once, mostly because I'd heard it was good and there was nothing else on that caught my eye. I thought I was going to have to miss out on the film when Miss Amanda called to tell me of system troubles whilst the adds were running. I called our suppliers emergency number but nobody answered so, with little I could do, I went back into the movie.
I think I'm glad I did. For a while after coming out of the cinema I could only speak movie-poster, i.e. "Heartbreaking","Emotionally powerful".
Librarian Idol does a much better job at describing the film than I could ever do.
The power of Once was so strong that it kept our supplier from following up on the help call until after it had finished. Several back and forth calls and another 45 minutes later the problem was solved. I am not too impressed by that speed of service but several previous weekend emergencies have been dealt with almost immediately so I'll let it pass as an anomaly.
In order to recover from Once I watched Dodgeball tonight. It was exactly what I expected and all is back in balance now.
... Mr Prada and the Casuals
Well here I am in the classroom while Mr Prada demonstrates the 2.0 23 things to some of our casuals, including the returned-as-a-casual Genealogy Jane.
It's a small group which gives me enough time to complete the image generator things. So:
(246 Alternate Title: Things #10 Image Generators)
I have looked at more than a few of the generators and finally found one that was okay. Then I created this masterpiece:
I think the subject came out of the many trips I make up and down Punt Road.
Anyway I think these are a great way to waste time and maybe have a small chuckle.
It's a small group which gives me enough time to complete the image generator things. So:
(246 Alternate Title: Things #10 Image Generators)
I have looked at more than a few of the generators and finally found one that was okay. Then I created this masterpiece:
I think the subject came out of the many trips I make up and down Punt Road.Anyway I think these are a great way to waste time and maybe have a small chuckle.
... The Deluge of Donuts
Friday morning was another quarterly LMS group meeting in the city where I found out that another Library service had still not got their wireless up and running for the public so I don't feel so bad now - apart from the scary thought that we could be another two months from debut!
I also picked up a tip about client install that may help to solve some of our ongoing issues at the branches.
After the meeting I trained home and drove into work in heavier traffic than at morning peak!! I don't understand! Anyway the reason for driving was so that I could get to the farewell dinner for The Marketing Marvel which involved a nice meal, a few drinks, a bit of talk (which I forced myself to take part in) and ended with Mr Prada escaping while I valiantly took the dancing bullet to a band called Two Ageing Hipsters with Guitars, or something like that.
Saturday night I had The Great Sandro and Legion2 around for footy watching where we had a Peaksean amount of donuts to comsume because of our lack of menu coordination. It was a great result for the pies and enjoyed by all, although I did worry that Legion2 might kick the TV when the Swans clawed our big lead back to only 4 points.
Sunday was a gaming day where Legion2 and I failed to take Omaha Beach from Gavman's German defenders.
Today was also the sad occasion of my last performance review under Supervisor S. It's not long now before the Supervisor Grand Chief K regime begins.
I also picked up a tip about client install that may help to solve some of our ongoing issues at the branches.
After the meeting I trained home and drove into work in heavier traffic than at morning peak!! I don't understand! Anyway the reason for driving was so that I could get to the farewell dinner for The Marketing Marvel which involved a nice meal, a few drinks, a bit of talk (which I forced myself to take part in) and ended with Mr Prada escaping while I valiantly took the dancing bullet to a band called Two Ageing Hipsters with Guitars, or something like that.
Saturday night I had The Great Sandro and Legion2 around for footy watching where we had a Peaksean amount of donuts to comsume because of our lack of menu coordination. It was a great result for the pies and enjoyed by all, although I did worry that Legion2 might kick the TV when the Swans clawed our big lead back to only 4 points.
Sunday was a gaming day where Legion2 and I failed to take Omaha Beach from Gavman's German defenders.
Today was also the sad occasion of my last performance review under Supervisor S. It's not long now before the Supervisor Grand Chief K regime begins.
... The Snubbing of the Tales
(246 Alternate Title: Things #16-17 Wikis)
I had a long Instant Message chat with FridgePower yesterday and in the middle of it all Wikis came up so I thought I'd knock off another few 2.0 things.
But first, when having a look at all the 2.0 blogs, her comment was "Simmone's is really cool............ and yours too." I am boggled. And I had been thinking it was really good to chat with her after such a long time of just watching each other log on and off in the corner of the screen!!!!!!
Ahem, I am calmed down now.
So Wikis.
I have used a few in my day, all related to gaming stuff. The first one was the most official and was to organise the online info for the game without the web site maintenance falling on the shoulders of one person.
The second one was the Thursday night groups shared notes for the game but a server crash wiped that one out and we never got back into it.
The latest one is for the Game Circle (of Monday night's Geektogether fame) website where the "what games are being played" page and a few others are Wiki pages.
For library use the old chestnut of collaborative procedure manuals would possibly work if some of the access was restricted. Also they may bbe a good way to store a lot of reader's advisory notes and information.
I had a long Instant Message chat with FridgePower yesterday and in the middle of it all Wikis came up so I thought I'd knock off another few 2.0 things.
But first, when having a look at all the 2.0 blogs, her comment was "Simmone's is really cool............ and yours too." I am boggled. And I had been thinking it was really good to chat with her after such a long time of just watching each other log on and off in the corner of the screen!!!!!!
Ahem, I am calmed down now.
So Wikis.
I have used a few in my day, all related to gaming stuff. The first one was the most official and was to organise the online info for the game without the web site maintenance falling on the shoulders of one person.
The second one was the Thursday night groups shared notes for the game but a server crash wiped that one out and we never got back into it.
The latest one is for the Game Circle (of Monday night's Geektogether fame) website where the "what games are being played" page and a few others are Wiki pages.
For library use the old chestnut of collaborative procedure manuals would possibly work if some of the access was restricted. Also they may bbe a good way to store a lot of reader's advisory notes and information.
... The Long Awaited Sleep-In
I finally have a break from the early morning wireless testing while we wait for network settings to be changed. Although as a caution I would say sleeping in and starting later when you have to travel to the ends of the earth to work at Beaumaris may not be such a wise idea.
Luckily I got in just before Supervisor S called me so she will be none the wiser.
Luckily I got in just before Supervisor S called me so she will be none the wiser.
... a Year of Soccer
It was exactly a year ago today that I started playing casual Soccer once a week. In honour of the anniversary my MAMILS reappeared two thirds of the way into tonights game but it has settled down again now. I ran around an awful lot tonight and the game wouldn't end as the "last goal wins" part of the evening went on for almost twenty minutes until finally the ball was kicked over the fence.
... the Gathering of Geeks
Monday night was my second attendance at a GeekTogether. This is a quarterly gathering of gamers organised by the GameCircle guys. It is basically just a bunch of people having a drink in a pub and talking about a mutual interest except it's gaming and not footy. It was another interesting night of conversation for me with a few areas of Game Theory delved into. I think most gamers scoff a little at the idea of our hobby having "theories of playstyle" and such, but it makes a lot of sense to me that someone who has "winning is everything" and someone with "do something cool within the game" may have troubles both enjoying the game if they play together.
... Poker, Simpsons and Father's Day
After a day back home at Sandy branch on FridayI headed off to a poker night at Micko's. Most of the usual card night gang were there: BestFriendSincePrep, StumpyRudolph, Legion2, Gavman, and Bradley. We had some great games of Chase-the-Ace with our own variation on the rules and a late game of poker.
Trying to sleep in the next day to recover was a bit difficult with the Tiger jumping on me all the time and then strange phone calls from crazy Italian people and Sister Serials having issues at Hampton. In any case I had to be up for a visit from My Guitarist who was this side of town collecting some ebay winnings. We had a good catch up and I found out that Redneck Ben is getting married next weekend.
In the afternoon I finally used one of my awards for being the best person in the library and saw the Simpson's Movie at the local. It was good but not great and I didn't think it pushed the boundaries beyond what could be done on TV as much as I'd been led to believe. After the film GavMan came by for some Space Hulk action.
Today was the gathering of the Legion for Handy Dad's day Lunch followed by general blobbing around at home in preparation for the long hard week ahead.
Trying to sleep in the next day to recover was a bit difficult with the Tiger jumping on me all the time and then strange phone calls from crazy Italian people and Sister Serials having issues at Hampton. In any case I had to be up for a visit from My Guitarist who was this side of town collecting some ebay winnings. We had a good catch up and I found out that Redneck Ben is getting married next weekend.
In the afternoon I finally used one of my awards for being the best person in the library and saw the Simpson's Movie at the local. It was good but not great and I didn't think it pushed the boundaries beyond what could be done on TV as much as I'd been led to believe. After the film GavMan came by for some Space Hulk action.
Today was the gathering of the Legion for Handy Dad's day Lunch followed by general blobbing around at home in preparation for the long hard week ahead.
... The Long and Wireless Road
The Wireless hotspot saga continues to go on and on. Now the supplier is unable to get the connection working through our existing ADSL modem so they have to ship us a new one.
Of course they made me come in early for testing before they decided this so now I'm brain fried for no reason - and I have to do an early Monday morning start at Brighton. The only upside will be the abundance of unguarded free food that I can avail myself of while I am doing all that testing.
Of course they made me come in early for testing before they decided this so now I'm brain fried for no reason - and I have to do an early Monday morning start at Brighton. The only upside will be the abundance of unguarded free food that I can avail myself of while I am doing all that testing.
... The Rooms Full of Noobies
The last two days have seen me assisting the 2.0 champions helping staff to go through their 2.0 23 things training.
Lot's of account recovery and signing on to things and explaining to the noobies what the sites do.
Of course from high on my IT Man hill I had to have Mr Prada explain to me what several sites do and how to use them.
And as penance I have a bazillion blog update messages in my bloglines account that I have to sift through now.
(and I still haven't got onto image generators!)
Lot's of account recovery and signing on to things and explaining to the noobies what the sites do.
Of course from high on my IT Man hill I had to have Mr Prada explain to me what several sites do and how to use them.
And as penance I have a bazillion blog update messages in my bloglines account that I have to sift through now.
(and I still haven't got onto image generators!)
... The Lost Hours
It seems that everything I have done in the last few days has lost me some hours.
Thursday I had an extra late in the day meeting sprung on me by Supervisor Grand Chief K and lost the start of the soccer game. A few post game beers to drown my sorrows and suddenly it was bedtime.
Friday was imaging up the genealogy PCs and true to form the imaging took a good four hours longer than I'd guesstimated. Then a phone call from our wireless supplier kept me at Brighton after closing while the techs on the other end tried to conjure up a eureka moment and I installed Brighton's special databases onto their genealogy PC. Thankfully there was free cake in the fridge so I didn't go without dinner as I was on the phone to Svetlana until quite late once I finally got home. (It seems there may be a plot to kidnap me when I go over to Hrvatska on my Christmas visit)
Saturday was the excitement of getting new tires on the car which was overwhelmed by the new iPod Clock Radio I splashed out on afterwards. In the evening I stayed in to watch the Pies finally start to get it right and solidify their spot in the top eight.
Today was looking okay until I decided to head across town to collect cards for the next games tournament without checking the footy fixture. Who schedules a twilight game at the MCG and and an early finishing game at Docklands??? My latest caution is that not only should you avoid Punt Road at all costs, but also always go via the Western Suburbs.
I think I'm actually going to catch the train to work tomorrow for the first time in weeks! Of course it being a Monday Connex will have hours of delays for me to contend with. Still, I should be able to get lots more "Magic Wood" Fantasy-Family Saga reading done.
Thursday I had an extra late in the day meeting sprung on me by Supervisor Grand Chief K and lost the start of the soccer game. A few post game beers to drown my sorrows and suddenly it was bedtime.
Friday was imaging up the genealogy PCs and true to form the imaging took a good four hours longer than I'd guesstimated. Then a phone call from our wireless supplier kept me at Brighton after closing while the techs on the other end tried to conjure up a eureka moment and I installed Brighton's special databases onto their genealogy PC. Thankfully there was free cake in the fridge so I didn't go without dinner as I was on the phone to Svetlana until quite late once I finally got home. (It seems there may be a plot to kidnap me when I go over to Hrvatska on my Christmas visit)
Saturday was the excitement of getting new tires on the car which was overwhelmed by the new iPod Clock Radio I splashed out on afterwards. In the evening I stayed in to watch the Pies finally start to get it right and solidify their spot in the top eight.
Today was looking okay until I decided to head across town to collect cards for the next games tournament without checking the footy fixture. Who schedules a twilight game at the MCG and and an early finishing game at Docklands??? My latest caution is that not only should you avoid Punt Road at all costs, but also always go via the Western Suburbs.
I think I'm actually going to catch the train to work tomorrow for the first time in weeks! Of course it being a Monday Connex will have hours of delays for me to contend with. Still, I should be able to get lots more "Magic Wood" Fantasy-Family Saga reading done.
... The Long Haul
I've had so many things happening and have ended up with little time for bloggerising them.
Sunday was a quick market coffee with Rugrat Twin followed by a gaming Sunday with surprise guests and multiple games going. I managed to be the second person ever to be eliminated from a game of Kings & Things (I am also the first person it ever happened to so my record is not so good)
Monday was a work as usual with a visit to Corporate HQ. In the evening I had dinner at my close neighbour CCs flat while she FaceBooked me. Facebook is a little underwhelming and I don't think I can get addicted to it, although it is another way to stay in touch with LittleBigGirl. I think for me it would be much easier to get addicted to reading forums where idiots argue with each other - mmmm anonymous opinions.
Tuesday was the new stove delivery and install on a self imposed credit day - although the new Supervisor Grand Chief K regime looks like it may crack down on that sort of independence - sigh, I shall miss Supervisor S. Regular Tuesday gaming ensued in the evening.
On Wednesday I proceeded to regain all my spent credit time by doing a long haul upgrade of public PCs that kept me there until the wee hours of 8.30. Luckily Mr Prada decreed that I could start late the next day to make up for it.
Said next day then became a blur of Brighton things and meetings and half a soccer game and not a lot else once home.
Sunday was a quick market coffee with Rugrat Twin followed by a gaming Sunday with surprise guests and multiple games going. I managed to be the second person ever to be eliminated from a game of Kings & Things (I am also the first person it ever happened to so my record is not so good)
Monday was a work as usual with a visit to Corporate HQ. In the evening I had dinner at my close neighbour CCs flat while she FaceBooked me. Facebook is a little underwhelming and I don't think I can get addicted to it, although it is another way to stay in touch with LittleBigGirl. I think for me it would be much easier to get addicted to reading forums where idiots argue with each other - mmmm anonymous opinions.
Tuesday was the new stove delivery and install on a self imposed credit day - although the new Supervisor Grand Chief K regime looks like it may crack down on that sort of independence - sigh, I shall miss Supervisor S. Regular Tuesday gaming ensued in the evening.
On Wednesday I proceeded to regain all my spent credit time by doing a long haul upgrade of public PCs that kept me there until the wee hours of 8.30. Luckily Mr Prada decreed that I could start late the next day to make up for it.
Said next day then became a blur of Brighton things and meetings and half a soccer game and not a lot else once home.
... The Green Mile and the White Stove
I finished the last couple of chapter books a couple of days ago in this busy week and have just watched the movie this afternoon. I enjoyed both quite a lot and may even have got something in my eye at the end of the movie.
In work news the wireless install stretches out as all sorts of upstream providers have to come into pay to make changes to the network. Also Supervisor S is the latest staff member to abandon me, leaving soon to take up maternal duties with her newly adopted son. (am I the only one that thinks it's a tad egotistical to adopt a child whose name is phonetically ISarah?)
I spent this afternoon shopping for a new stove - which for me involves going to the same store I bought my fridge from years ago and picking one of the four models on display that will do the job, none of that shopping around stuff for me, although I did do a smidgen of research on the internet. The currently trendy metallic ones were too wide for the space I have so I've gone with classic white. Delivery and install are all keyed up for Tuesday so yay for a day off!
In work news the wireless install stretches out as all sorts of upstream providers have to come into pay to make changes to the network. Also Supervisor S is the latest staff member to abandon me, leaving soon to take up maternal duties with her newly adopted son. (am I the only one that thinks it's a tad egotistical to adopt a child whose name is phonetically ISarah?)
I spent this afternoon shopping for a new stove - which for me involves going to the same store I bought my fridge from years ago and picking one of the four models on display that will do the job, none of that shopping around stuff for me, although I did do a smidgen of research on the internet. The currently trendy metallic ones were too wide for the space I have so I've gone with classic white. Delivery and install are all keyed up for Tuesday so yay for a day off!
... A Little 2.0
(246 Alternate Title: Things #5-7 Flickr & more)
I am finally moving on to the next task - or rather filling in the Flickr gap in my 2.0 task list.
I've already had a browse through Flickr in the past, as well as a few other photo sites like PhotoBucket. They are a great way to upload your Photo's and tag them for other people to see. Personally I prefer to use hand-carved HTML to create my online photo albums but I do have the web programming background that allows me to do that.
The Flickr geotagging is a good idea but I find it annoying that some tags don't show at all until you zoom closer. This means that looking at the places I visited last year in Croatia it looks like there are no photos and I almost gave up. One accidental click later though and I realised that they show up as you zoom in.
I'm supposed to blog about some technology that interests me... umm. Well it won't be wireless internet access!! I've spent the last two work days getting this set up and dealing with supplier and courier damage and replacement parts, and we still haven't really started on the network security and routing stuff.
But I do really think wireless is a great technology (apart from frying all our brains with all those "rays" flying around). For almost a year I've been using a wireless mouse and the lack of "cable-pull" on my mousing action has been wonderful. Wireless at home - the new home, it would never work at the old one - has allowed me to do away with cable runs through to the study and to set up the laptop on the kitchen table to VPN into work to fix stuff.
I could have scammed free access off my neighbour who has just plugged in the box without any security, as ArchEnemy tested during one visit. Ooh there's another caution for you - ALWAYS change your home wireless set-up to use security or others will be surfing the net on your account!
I finished the third part of The Green Mile this morning such an easy read and the chapter books really give a sense of fast progress.
I am finally moving on to the next task - or rather filling in the Flickr gap in my 2.0 task list.
I've already had a browse through Flickr in the past, as well as a few other photo sites like PhotoBucket. They are a great way to upload your Photo's and tag them for other people to see. Personally I prefer to use hand-carved HTML to create my online photo albums but I do have the web programming background that allows me to do that.
The Flickr geotagging is a good idea but I find it annoying that some tags don't show at all until you zoom closer. This means that looking at the places I visited last year in Croatia it looks like there are no photos and I almost gave up. One accidental click later though and I realised that they show up as you zoom in.
I'm supposed to blog about some technology that interests me... umm. Well it won't be wireless internet access!! I've spent the last two work days getting this set up and dealing with supplier and courier damage and replacement parts, and we still haven't really started on the network security and routing stuff.
But I do really think wireless is a great technology (apart from frying all our brains with all those "rays" flying around). For almost a year I've been using a wireless mouse and the lack of "cable-pull" on my mousing action has been wonderful. Wireless at home - the new home, it would never work at the old one - has allowed me to do away with cable runs through to the study and to set up the laptop on the kitchen table to VPN into work to fix stuff.
I could have scammed free access off my neighbour who has just plugged in the box without any security, as ArchEnemy tested during one visit. Ooh there's another caution for you - ALWAYS change your home wireless set-up to use security or others will be surfing the net on your account!
I finished the third part of The Green Mile this morning such an easy read and the chapter books really give a sense of fast progress.
... The Completion of the Hat-trick!
My third goal finally arrived at last nights soccer, so the average is now one goal every two and a half months.
I also finished zooming through the second part of The Green Mile.
Most of the last couple of days have been taken up with the wireless internet install - or rather the organising of replacement and missing parts to be sent across. It is still many days, maybe even weeks from debuting for the public as there are a few security and networking issues to e sorted out.
In the middle of all that it was announced that The Marketing Marvel was resigning due to the day not having 30 hours in it and not being able to fit everything in. She will be sadly missed.
I also finished zooming through the second part of The Green Mile.
Most of the last couple of days have been taken up with the wireless internet install - or rather the organising of replacement and missing parts to be sent across. It is still many days, maybe even weeks from debuting for the public as there are a few security and networking issues to e sorted out.
In the middle of all that it was announced that The Marketing Marvel was resigning due to the day not having 30 hours in it and not being able to fit everything in. She will be sadly missed.
...The Green Mile: part 1
I started and finished the first Chapter book of this 6 part Stephen King story in the last two days.
It had been long enough since my Dark Tower and associated King stories reading, that I'm ready to read some more - in between my other reading.
I didn't expect the chapter book to fly past so quickly but Mr Kings writing is as flowing and interesting to me as ever. If I keep up the pace I'll finish the whole lot before the week is out!
It had been long enough since my Dark Tower and associated King stories reading, that I'm ready to read some more - in between my other reading.
I didn't expect the chapter book to fly past so quickly but Mr Kings writing is as flowing and interesting to me as ever. If I keep up the pace I'll finish the whole lot before the week is out!
... The Footy, take two
I went to the footy again yesterday and this time the pies got it right. Ignoring ladder position it was a good close back and forth game and didn't look over until halfway through the last quarter. I went with The Great Sandro again, who was unhappy this week so it's one all this year. BestFriendSincePrep was at the ground as well but he was in a corporate box with free beer and was strangely uncontactable after the game...
Ms Magpie was also supposed to be there and should be pleased with the result even though I suspect her reasons for watching athletic young men in tight shorts running around are a little less sport related than mine.
Ms Magpie was also supposed to be there and should be pleased with the result even though I suspect her reasons for watching athletic young men in tight shorts running around are a little less sport related than mine.
...The Surgeon of Crowthorne
by Simon Winchester
I finished reading this yesterday. It is an interesting and entertaining story with a touch too much overwriting - a horse and cart does not just go down the lane, the horses hooves spark off the cobblestones lighting up the surrounding scene like lightning.
Half the fun of this book is seeing how many times the author uses the phrase "what could have happened was..." before launching into a lurid and sensationally fictional tale which is ended with "but that was not what happened" or "but nobody knows what really happened", biography indeed!
I am intrigued about the author's writing style in his other books.
I finished reading this yesterday. It is an interesting and entertaining story with a touch too much overwriting - a horse and cart does not just go down the lane, the horses hooves spark off the cobblestones lighting up the surrounding scene like lightning.
Half the fun of this book is seeing how many times the author uses the phrase "what could have happened was..." before launching into a lurid and sensationally fictional tale which is ended with "but that was not what happened" or "but nobody knows what really happened", biography indeed!
I am intrigued about the author's writing style in his other books.
... Style Wars
This is an addendum to the training class from the previous post.
It is not all good having Mr Prada working on the classes with me - I'm being completely overshadowed on the style front every time we run a class together.
And I don't think there's any way I can ever compete. I'll have to make the most of Mr Prada's absence later in the year when I run the class on my own.
It is not all good having Mr Prada working on the classes with me - I'm being completely overshadowed on the style front every time we run a class together.
And I don't think there's any way I can ever compete. I'll have to make the most of Mr Prada's absence later in the year when I run the class on my own.
.. Classes and headaches and 'puters, oh my!
Since the weekend I've been busily doing the usual with just a touch of sadly hunched over in the cold for two hours at the footy induced back muscle tightness which has given me those wonderful referred head/neck aches.
The Class was another Your Library at home class co-presented with Mr Prada. (Co-presented means I do half the talking and he does all the preparation and set-up - it's good to be the king). It went well this time and is unsurprisingly much easier to do when you haven't had oodles of training day drinks the night before.
The aforementioned headaches gave me the excuse for a late arrival on Wednesday, but Days of our Libraries had been hunting me around all the branches so I couldn't pull the old "I was at another branch" swifty and instead had to use up some of the extra-time I'd built up.
I finally faced my fear of calling a service centre today and spoke to the Dell tech to get our faulty monitors replaced. He had one of those beautiful fake call centre accents that couldn't quite cover his sub-continentness and the delightful name of Luther Alexander - very close to the wonderful Luther Arkwright.
Soccer tonight was a great workout even though we white shirts took a ten nil thrashing. (it should have been 9-0 but I'm not going to head a ball that could mush my glasses... again)(well actually it should have been 9-1 but I can't kick straight)
I skipped gaming tonight and was able to intercept Svetlana's attempt to just leave a message and forced her to talk to me live.
Finally I received an email tonight from LittleBigGirl who is turning her occasional update emails into a blog so now my RSS feeds will keep tabs of her too, mwha ha ha.
The Class was another Your Library at home class co-presented with Mr Prada. (Co-presented means I do half the talking and he does all the preparation and set-up - it's good to be the king). It went well this time and is unsurprisingly much easier to do when you haven't had oodles of training day drinks the night before.
The aforementioned headaches gave me the excuse for a late arrival on Wednesday, but Days of our Libraries had been hunting me around all the branches so I couldn't pull the old "I was at another branch" swifty and instead had to use up some of the extra-time I'd built up.
I finally faced my fear of calling a service centre today and spoke to the Dell tech to get our faulty monitors replaced. He had one of those beautiful fake call centre accents that couldn't quite cover his sub-continentness and the delightful name of Luther Alexander - very close to the wonderful Luther Arkwright.
Soccer tonight was a great workout even though we white shirts took a ten nil thrashing. (it should have been 9-0 but I'm not going to head a ball that could mush my glasses... again)(well actually it should have been 9-1 but I can't kick straight)
I skipped gaming tonight and was able to intercept Svetlana's attempt to just leave a message and forced her to talk to me live.
Finally I received an email tonight from LittleBigGirl who is turning her occasional update emails into a blog so now my RSS feeds will keep tabs of her too, mwha ha ha.
... the Footy
Here's a caution for you all. Going to the footy on a cold winters evening to see your team out of the game after the first 10 minutes is not good for your spirits.
One can only hope that Ms Magpie was able to keep her cool as if anything could break her new icy footy-watching calm it would be the teams performance.
On the good side I got to spend ludicrous amounts of money on donuts.
Sundays was a gaming day and we had a bumper turn out, with The Valkyrie and Pirate Dave showing up for the first time in years. Main game of the afternoon was Sword and Skulls a love child of Talisman and Monopoly (but one that actually finishes in a couple of hours).
Today was back to work and back to puzzling "why does it work on that computer but not on this one" problems - oh and the obligatory network outage just when I was nutting out a problem.
One can only hope that Ms Magpie was able to keep her cool as if anything could break her new icy footy-watching calm it would be the teams performance.
On the good side I got to spend ludicrous amounts of money on donuts.
Sundays was a gaming day and we had a bumper turn out, with The Valkyrie and Pirate Dave showing up for the first time in years. Main game of the afternoon was Sword and Skulls a love child of Talisman and Monopoly (but one that actually finishes in a couple of hours).
Today was back to work and back to puzzling "why does it work on that computer but not on this one" problems - oh and the obligatory network outage just when I was nutting out a problem.
... The Beaumaris Flu
Beaumaris Flu Strikes Brighton!
Named for it's origin point, the Beaumaris Flu has now been tracked to Brighton were a minor infection was threatening to become a full blown outbreak as many of the PCs at Brighton were beginning to show the symptoms of freezing and inexplicable crashing.
Luckily the IT Officer was on the scene today and commenced to inoculate the circulation PCs with a dose of client upgrade 8.2.15D to stabilise their condition.
Things seem to be back under control for now but it remains to be seen if the Beaumaris Flu will once again mutate and remain a threat to continued library operations.
... 2.0 Remedial Class
Having made no progress in 2.0 for a very long time I was sent along to a day of 2.0 seminars at the state library today. It was interesting and did open my eyes to a few more ways to incorporate 2.0 into what we do at the library. I do still remain a little skeptical about 2.0 being the way all things in the library will go in the future which is the impression that a lot of the Library 2.0 talk gives me.
In an anti-eponymous move I went to lunch with Alecto who works in the state library instead of staying for the free lunch. Word is it was very good so I'll be having a sleepless night of regret tonight.
In an anti-eponymous move I went to lunch with Alecto who works in the state library instead of staying for the free lunch. Word is it was very good so I'll be having a sleepless night of regret tonight.
... The Evil Plant
Since my last post I have had a relapse of my cold. The culprit ... my plant. It was brought home innocently from work and put in a wonderful spot in the bedroom from whence it began to poison me with CO2 overnight. If it hadn't been for Doctor J bringing her plantology knowledge to bear I may never have known about the plant's evil scheme to switch from producing oxygen in the daytime to consuming it overnight. Consider this a caution as apparently alll plants do this so there must be some sort of League of Evil Plants.
(There is an alternate theory that I ran myself ragged over the previous weekend and then walked home in an icy wind that destroyed my immune system on Monday night but it's so far-fetched that I give it no credence.)
Monday saw the setup of Brighton's self-issues machine while the Fiction was Ghetto-ised and some carpet replaced. There was a free lunch involved so I had to work there all day.
Tuesday was the glorious debute of the self-issues machine and it has been going well - up to about 8% of the daily loans by the end of the week. As an aside if anyone calls the machine "the fast-track" again I might just lose it - I'm looking at you Groovy Spirits!
Wednesday was a much needed sick day at home as it was followed by one of those meetings and software install days.
Friday I was back home at Sandringham branch for as day of knocking of little jobs. The evening was spent at BestFriendSincePrep's place as the subject of his massage course practise and then watching Lady in the Water - an M Night Shyamalan film. We both love his movies and this one was no exception. It is a wonderful fairy-tale full of hope. It does require you to leave your cynicism at the door though so might not cut it for a lot of people.
Went to ArchEnemy's last night to watch Australia in the soccer and see the team treated like thugs for minor indiscretions. Are the refs really so easily swayed by media hoo-ha about playing style??
Finished reading the novelisation of Judge Dredd this morning. It is fairly literal translation of a mediocre script for one of my favourite comics. Film and book both do away with the great black humour and go with straight-forward action movie material. Its no wonder that they never got the franchise past the first film.
The day was topped off with a family lunch with all of the Legion gathered at the ancestral home and of course I was called on to do some computer fixing for Freeloading Mum.
(There is an alternate theory that I ran myself ragged over the previous weekend and then walked home in an icy wind that destroyed my immune system on Monday night but it's so far-fetched that I give it no credence.)
Monday saw the setup of Brighton's self-issues machine while the Fiction was Ghetto-ised and some carpet replaced. There was a free lunch involved so I had to work there all day.
Tuesday was the glorious debute of the self-issues machine and it has been going well - up to about 8% of the daily loans by the end of the week. As an aside if anyone calls the machine "the fast-track" again I might just lose it - I'm looking at you Groovy Spirits!
Wednesday was a much needed sick day at home as it was followed by one of those meetings and software install days.
Friday I was back home at Sandringham branch for as day of knocking of little jobs. The evening was spent at BestFriendSincePrep's place as the subject of his massage course practise and then watching Lady in the Water - an M Night Shyamalan film. We both love his movies and this one was no exception. It is a wonderful fairy-tale full of hope. It does require you to leave your cynicism at the door though so might not cut it for a lot of people.
Went to ArchEnemy's last night to watch Australia in the soccer and see the team treated like thugs for minor indiscretions. Are the refs really so easily swayed by media hoo-ha about playing style??
Finished reading the novelisation of Judge Dredd this morning. It is fairly literal translation of a mediocre script for one of my favourite comics. Film and book both do away with the great black humour and go with straight-forward action movie material. Its no wonder that they never got the franchise past the first film.
The day was topped off with a family lunch with all of the Legion gathered at the ancestral home and of course I was called on to do some computer fixing for Freeloading Mum.
... Pan's Labyrinth
I watched Pan's Labyrinth this morning. It was an enjoyable and beautiful movie with a nice touch of "did it really happen?" mixed with a Brazil-like ending.
Other things going on have been a farewell dinner for ChantellattheLibrary who will be missed as a brightener of the Sandringham workroom. The good part is that I no longer have to clear shelf space for the storytime collection and can continue to horde my obsolete IT equipment - just in case.
After the dinner ArchEnemy brought Legion2 over for some gaming long into the night.
To further deny me a proper nights sleep, Sir Clive Pitbull invited me out last night for a catch up drink in the city. Hector TN was there and we listened raptly to the latest in the ongoing saga of Sir Clive's crazy ex.
Other things going on have been a farewell dinner for ChantellattheLibrary who will be missed as a brightener of the Sandringham workroom. The good part is that I no longer have to clear shelf space for the storytime collection and can continue to horde my obsolete IT equipment - just in case.
After the dinner ArchEnemy brought Legion2 over for some gaming long into the night.
To further deny me a proper nights sleep, Sir Clive Pitbull invited me out last night for a catch up drink in the city. Hector TN was there and we listened raptly to the latest in the ongoing saga of Sir Clive's crazy ex.
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